Portraits the Hard Way!

I've seen portraits taken in what appears to be the local high school locker room several times and they've always looked really great. I recently got my first opportunity to photograph a high school senior in his locker room and it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. The metal of the lockers were quite reflective and the open portions where equipment hangs had terrible shadows inside, not to mention every little thing sitting around the room cast shadows a mile long. I got plenty of great shots, but the whole shoot was much more challenging than I ever would have imagined. I got home and did some research and realized a lot of the shots I've seen were done with lockers that looked nothing like the ones in the locker room! I'm so naive, but these shots were faked! The lockers were never used, they're just props for portraits. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, when you're in your studio, you get to control the light and everything that goes in front of the camera. You can spray anti-reflective coating on the lockers if you want, but I think doing it in an actual locker room is great, the shots have that ring of truth, that every senior wants for their portraits.