These portraits were accomplished using a Canon 7D camera with a 70-200mm f/4L Lens, hand held. I bounced a Canon 550EX Speedlight which was attached to a Stroboframe Camera Flip Bracket and synced with a Canon Off Camera Flash Cord. I modified the bounced flash with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro available from http://www.dembflashproducts.com. The Flash Diffuser pro provides excellent lighting and since the FlipIt portion of the DFD is adjustable in angle, the unit is exceptionally versatile and can be used in venues in which the ceiling is too dark or too high to provide "normal" bounce or even when there is no ceiling such as outdoors at night (see image of Katie).

Other uses for my Joe Demb Gear...
I have bounced the 550EX flash mounted on-camera again using the Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro for many of my China Images, especially those of the night market in my Guilin-Yangshuo Gallery. http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Other/Yangshuo-a/12005191_cVZbFD#881456571_WA3Dc When shooting in Hong Kong, I also used a Canon 270EX Speedlight. The 270EX can be modified with a Joe Demb Mini FlipIt which is now designated as the Photojournalist FlipIt. The FlipIt provides very decent lighting when bounced in the landscape mode and is almost essential to get good lighting in the portrait configuration since the 270EX can tilt but, cannot rotate. You can see the results from this combination in my Hong Kong Gallery:
http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Travel/China-Focus-Tour-2010-Hong/11941703_zFNWNZ#881463783_tJXQ6.