Look at this corporate environmental portrait, made last week:

Without the light, this picture would have the following drawbacks:

• Flat face, instead of the 3-D and “shaped” version we see here.
• No emphasis on the subject
• Way too much clutter.

The shot used my usual “one speedlight through an umbrella” setup. My camera and:

• One light stand,
• A mounting bracket,
• An umbrella,
• A flash, a Canon 580EX
• One pocketwizard–to–hotshoe cable,
• Two pocketwizards.

The key here is not to add light; the key is the light direction. And indeed “OCF”, off-camera flash, is… off camera.