Porter's Big Lie

I follow a lot of investment analysts--one of the most interesting in his writing and his ideas is Porter Stansberry. One reason he's so interesting is that he has very iconoclastic ideas about many things, and enjoys expressing them in sometimes very creative and colorful ways. I don't always agree with him, and in fact so disagreed with something I saw today that I was moved to write a reply. My reply is below, followed by the original post by Stansberry.


Porter may very likely be right in his stock market analysis regarding solar stocks--that their green fashion popularity has led to "wildly inflated prices", and that they're due for a fall whenever the bubble breaks.

But his pseudo scientific reasoning that "it is impossible to efficiently use solar power and always will be, thanks to the Second Law of Thermodynamics" is the kind of absolutist babble that I'd expect from a ranting talk radio host, not from a sober investment analyst.

Yes the 2nd law of thermodynamics states that a closed system moves inexorably to greater and greater entropy, or disorder. Presumably even the universe as a whole closed system does the same.

But the universe is very spacious, and has plenty of room where order can be increased in subsections. All life, and particularly human civilization, operates in opposition to entropy, to increase order. Entropy can indeed decrease locally, and in fact our life depends on it.

Despite Porter's attempt to hijack the 2nd law of thermodynamics to his argument against solar power, it doesn't prevent photovoltaic cells or wind turbines or tidal systems or hydroelectric systems from concentrating and outputting useful power. No more than it prevented green plant life over eons past from using photosynthesis to concentrate solar energy into fossil fuel deposits that we're now burning up.

Whether oil goes back up past $200 and beyond in a year or two, or in a decade or two, it certainly will eventually. The earth's petroleum and natural gas is a very finite, very precious resource, and ultimately more valuable for petrochemical uses than for burning up. It's only after a century's worth of private investment and government subsidies (including wars fought for oil) that we now have, temporarily, this month's $40/barrel oil. So it's urgent to be about investing in alternatives. Of course it's reasonable to critically examine the economics of the choices, including the second order costs. In the case of the hydrocarbon based energy system, the second order costs that have been borne by society, including a large share of the military budget, as well as the planetary cataclysm threatened by global warming, have rarely been figured into the equation.

Whether a given solution makes sense economically, now or in the future, is essential to consider. There's plenty of room for discussion as to what are the best ways to go forward toward a long term sustainable solution for our energy needs. It just doesn't advance the discussion to disallow photovoltaic solar energy with the specious argument that it violates the Laws of Thermodynamics.
(Michael Penn Smith)


(Original post by Porter Stansberry, in Daily Wealth)
You Can Make Money from Al Gore's Big Lie
By Porter Stansberry

This past week, I encouraged my Put Strategy Report subscribers to establish a short position in solar stocks.

Solar stocks are popular right now... so they have wildly inflated share prices. And I know the entire solar industry is a big con – it is impossible to efficiently use solar power and it always will be, thanks to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Governments have tried to break the laws of physics because solar energy is popular, but all the subsidies in the world will never make solar energy viable as a reliable and efficient source of energy. That means solar stocks are ultimately doomed.

Meanwhile, even in the short term, so much money has been spent building solar-panel manufacturing facilities that the price of solar panels is falling below their cost of production – which will mean a terrible year for the makers of solar panels, especially the largest companies.

I'm facing a lot of skeptics who believe what Al Gore has told them about solar energy. But once you know the only real buyers of solar panels are governments (through subsidies and large direct purchases), you should immediately suspect the promise of solar power isn't what it's cracked up to be.

If everyone could power their homes by putting solar panels on the roof, everyone would want to do it. We wouldn't need tax incentives. Of course, that's not how it works. Instead, the cost to install and maintain a solar system far exceeds the economic value of what it provides. And the reason is basic physics, specifically the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

This is nature's version of "there's no such thing as a free lunch." The Second Law says energy moves from more useful forms to less useful forms, from more concentrated and powerful forms to more disparate and less powerful forms. In short, machines that promise to bring us the power of the sun by harnessing its rays won't work because by the time the sun's rays reach the Earth, not much useful energy is left. That energy won't return to a more concentrated form without the input of just as much additional power. You can't simply "reconcentrate" sunlight in any useful way. The concept breaks the fundamental laws of nature.

I'm not the only person who has doubted the functional utility of solar power. Another skeptic is Warren Meyer, who frequently blogs about free market economics, climate nonsense, and solar power, among other topics. Meyer is a Princeton and Harvard Business School graduate, but even those institutions didn't ruin his brain, which tells me he's a very smart guy indeed.

Al Gore has claimed, repeatedly, that if we were to build a 90-mile by 90-mile solar-panel facility in the Southwest desert, we would have enough electricity to power the entire United States. The claim is fantastic. If only we cared enough about the environment to build enough solar panels, then the world would be saved and power would be free! Al Gore is a masterful politician, which is to say he is a complete liar.

Meyer, who worked as an engineer for Exxon and an analyst with McKinsey, decided to run the actual numbers.
I assumed a third of the 8,100 square miles would be dead space between the panels, roads, transformers, access paths, etc. I assumed you put the installation in the best solar sites in the southwest, which yield on average about 6 peak-sun-hour-equivalents a day. I assumed a 20% loss in conversions and transformers. So 8,100 sq miles x 2/3 x 200 watt/12sq ft x 6 hours x 365 days x 80% (with necessary unit conversions thrown in) yields 4.08 billion Megawatt-Hours of electricity, which is about exactly our current US generating capacity. (Way to go! Al got a number right!).
But there's a significant catch. (Remember the Second Law of Thermodynamics...)
This does not cover elimination of fossil fuels in the transportation sector. And it does not address the problem of how you store this power at night, which of course is a catastrophic problem for the idea... Using the assumptions above and assuming that installation costs (with land acquisition, transformers, inverters, roads, mounting, installation, etc) is as much again as the panel costs themselves, the total installation would cost just under $21 trillion dollars. This is orders of magnitude [more than 10 times] more than a nuclear program of the same size would cost. And presupposes the environmentalists would let you cover 5 million acres of desert with metal and silicon.
Solar power isn't the answer to our country's energy needs – and it never will be.

While I don't know (and can't know) how long the current solar mania will last, I am convinced with oil selling for less than $50 a barrel again and with the economics of solar energy more and more apparent, we're near at least a short-term peak in the popularity of solar stocks. Most will fall 50%-75% in the next year or two.

How do you choose which solar stocks to bet against? Just like you would any other sector. Look for the most popular, high-profile players. Look for high price-to-book or price-to-sales ratios. But do it soon... A bet here is a bet on one of the surest trends in 2009.

Good investing,

Porter Stansberry

Simpleology--No, not Scientology--Simpleology

There's an internet marketer, author, and amateur but accomplished philosopher/thinker named Mark Joyner. He's got lots of irons in the fire online, but one that I think would be interesting and beneficial to most people is called Simpleology, "The Simple Science of Getting What You Want."

At one level it's a self-organization, task-managing system, a glorified TODO list system. But it's also much more than that, because it's carefully and shrewdly design to help you step around a lot of the potholes and boulders and subtler monsters that prevent people from getting organized, motivated, and getting things done. Check it out: www.simpleology.com

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

The preceding paragraph is some code for a piece of blogging coursework that I'm wanting to check it out.

Restarting Posting

Many moons have gone by since I last posted here. I did an owner-build project building my house, and instead of the 7 months I planned, it took nearly twice as long. Boy am I glad to be done!

We're west of Dripping Springs, in the hill country west of Austin, and north of San Antonio. Lynda and I are gradually getting settled in. Enjoying having lots of interesting places to go that are nearby. Dallas is relatively limited in that area--the countryside around there just doesn't compare to here.

Sunday we drove over to Fredericksburg, which while a little touristy, is really a neat little town, with lots of old buildings among the oldest in the state.

I've been doing another blog about my ownerbuilding project, hosted at http://www.ownerbuildbook.com/. The full address for my particular blog there is http://www.ownerbuilderbook.com/blogs/users/PennsmithLostValleyTX.aspx

The whole site is a rich deposit of intelligence on how to build your own house, to save money and to insure better quality. There's over 20,000 pages. Anybody who wants to build a house, and has some time flexibility, and at least average common sense, should seriously consider being an owner-builder.

Here's a few pictures from my project:

Equipment Closeout Sale this Fri/Sat Oct 20-21

Nowadays my work in production is relatively streamlined as a freelance cameraman and Stanton Triangle Jib owner-operator.

But from my former life with Texas Production Facility and RGB Post, there still remains lots of equipment that I’ve never sold, and it’s overflowing my garage/studio.

It’s definitely time to clear it out, so I’m having my Final Closeout Sale this weekend, Friday-Saturday, Oct 20-21. (9-6 each day)

Whatever’s left after this will go to the Ebay store.

Surplus Equipment for SALE
All Prices Reduced! or MAKE OFFERS

pennsmith@bigplanet.com
214 339 3237

CAMERAS, LENSES, Accessories

JVC JY-HD10 HDV camcorder, w/ 3 batts, 2 chargers $1,895
Sony PVV-3 Beta SP dockable deck 2,795
Canon Super 8mm Film Camera w 7.5-60mm zoom 295
Ikegami 79EAL camera, Canon 13x9, J-Lab Betadaptor 395
Ikegami MA 79 multicore CCU w RGB outputs, inc.
inc. 2 l00’ cables, and MA-79E camera adaptor 295
Toshiba IK-C30A ice cube cam, with C mount lenses, etc. 445
Sony SSC-520AM security cam 49
Fujinon 14 x 8.5 Lens (2/3” Sony mount) 1,795
Fujinon CFH-1 Rear Focus Control w cable,FMM-6A keeper 185
Fujinon Rear Zoom Control SRD52B 445
Canon ZSD-300M Variable Speed Rear Zoom Control 695
Century WideAngle Adaptor (.7 &.5) 395
Fujinon WA (.8x) Converter (fits 90 mm front element) 395
Tiffen WideAngle Lens Shade (Holds 4.5” Round) 99
Petroff 4x4 Matte Box with Fujinon attachment bracket 545
Victor Duncan 6x6 Matte Box, with case, lots access. 645
Filters Series 9 Fogs, Diff, Stars,LowCons, Diopters, etc 25
Filters 4x4” & 4x5” White ProMist, Black Dot, Fogs,Grads,etc 40
Filters 4.5” Round Star, Diopters, Dbl Fog, Low Con 40
Sony BC210 BP-90 charger 99
Sony BC1WB NP-1B charger 149
Sony BC-410 NP and BP smart charger 295
Astron RS-7A 12v power supply 99
BNC cables and RGB BNC cables $5 to 15
Portabrace camera case 99
Raincovers, Sony and Portabrace each 20
Sony 2m and 10 m 26 pin cam/recorder cable $15 & 30
Sharp VR-SP100 underwater splash housing 20


RECORDERS

Sony PVV-3 Beta SP dockable deck $2,795
Sony VO-9800 w TC U-matic (3/4”) recorder 895
JVC BR-S611U SVHS recorder 495
JVC BR S710U SVHS recorder (2 avail) 395
YCP-BCR TBC controller for UVW 1800, etc. 145
CD Players Technics SL-P170, Toshiba XR-35 20

LIGHTS & GRIP

Anton Bauer Sungun $75
Mole 2K Rotary Dimmer (inductive coil) 75
M-R rolling studio Junior stand, lowboy 50
Side Arms, Junior or Baby 10
Baby and Midget Snoots each 5
Junior, Baby, and Midget wire scrims each 5
Junior “Tree” Bracket (3 available) 45
CASES: Mole,Anvil,Calzone, SKB, Thermodyne,Portabrace $10 to $95
Electric Feeder Cable, per lb 25cents
Rolling Cart for C-stands, flags, etc $45
Monitor Carts, rolling, metal 46” high, 3 avail each 35
Folding tables 2’x4’, 2’ x 6’ or 2’ x 8’ each 20
Legal Size file cabinets, 2 high each $20
Ladder, 4’ 10
Exercise Bike 65
Electric Bike, Folds to store 195
Dodge Caravan Bench or Quad Captains seat 95

SUPPORT, STEADICAM

SACHTLER Video 20 II, 2-Riser Alum tripod, spreader $3,395
STEADICAM Video SK 4,795
Rolling Triangles for tripods 25 to 120
Pair of Universal I-Beam Sleds-Quick run any dolly on track 595
O’Connor 30 fluid head, Lisand Alum legs, integral spreader 795
Vinten Alum. Legs, 100mm clawball, 2 Riser w/ spreader 395
Sachtler Alum Legs, with heavy duty spreader 495
Ronford Baby Legs, aluminum 275
Bencher M3 copystand 295
Tripod cases—hard tubular or Portabrace soft 75

EDIT, TERMINAL

Ensemble Designs Serial Box III analog to SDI $599
Ensemble Designs Serial Box II SDI to analog 599
FOR A CT-600 Transcoder 299
I-DEN IVT-9 PLUS transcoding digital TimeBaseCorrector 549
Microtime TX3 transcoding digital TBC w/ remote 699
Ultimatte 4 keying device 599
Covid 8x1 component router (2 avail) each 199
Hedco 16x1 audio/video router 149
Sigma VSS-120 video/stereo audio router 199
Lenco PS 467 12x video router 199
Opamp Labs V-44 4 channel video DA 99
Abekas-Cox VX164 16x4 component routing switcher,
8 chs. Audio, 4 chs video-R,G,B, and key 699
Adrienne Electronics AEC-Box-2 wideband LTC reader
w/ RS232/432 serial interface 149
Horita TCG-50 time code reader generator inserter 89
Horita Safe Title Generator 89
Horita VLT VITC/LTC transcoder 89
Horita RLT remote LTC transcoder 89
Lenco 300 rack power supply with modules 349
Lenco Starflex 3020 power rack w/ 4-3500 VDA, 3520, 3260
transcoder, 3120 master CRS, 3420 CRS/BB slave 549
Allen Avionics Video Delay 0-255 NANOsecs 59

AUDIO

Shure SM90 “PZM” mic (2 avail) each 149.
Lectrosonics Pro 4 Mult Box, Comtek antenna 195
Anchor Liberty MPB-4500 powered PA, mstr&slave, stands 875
TAC Bullet 10-4-2 mixer console 245
Clearcom KB112 Speaker Station 95
Clearcom IF4B 4 wire interface 95
Lexicon MRC midi remote control 70
DBX 140x Type 2 noise reduction 145
DBX 263X De-esser 145
Lenco PAF-467 audio switcher (mates w/PS 467) 145
Omnicraft GT-4A 4 ch thresh/range/release 145
XLR cables, 25’ and 50’ $8-12
Gitzo Boom Pole 12’ 145
Boom Pole 12’ 145

MONITORS

Mitsubishi 1281 high res CRT projector, HD capable $795
Sony Watchman Receiver/monitor 3”LCD color 99
Barco CVS51 19” RGB engineering mon. 149
Shibasoki 19” engineering monitor 149
Panasonic 19” RGB Monitor 199
Hitachi CM182U 19” monitor 90
Daewoo 27” TV 99
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 20 computer monitor 99
Tektronix 528A Waveform Monitor 99
Tektronix 475 test oscilloscope 375
Videotek TVM 620 Waveform/Vector scope 375

HUNDREDS additional ITEMS $1 to $20
(inc. Pentium computers & monitors, Hoodman’s, charts,
quartz lamps, XLR/BNC/etc cables, connectors, mics, cases,
office supplies, framed wall art, etc.) $1 to $20

The private lake was a wonderful peaceful refuge, but it was teeming with life. Ducks and cranes and turtles, and we even saw one beaver swim by. Saw more evidence of beavers from trees knawed down, and a fair sized beaver dam.

We stayed at several exceptional B&B's in New Mexico and Colorado. This private lake was just outside our window at the Lost Canyon Lake Lodge, between Mancos and Dolores, in SW Colorado. 

The weather was cool and sometimes rainy, and repeatedly delivered double rainbows. (Ouray, Colorado)

 

An upclose and personal way to view the magnificent landscape

 

The train goes alongside, and above, the Animas River

 

Riding the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge (San Juan mountains in Colorado)

 

I've been working for ESPN/ABC for the NBA Finals, mostly for Sports Center and NBA Nation. I usually don't work much sports, so this was a real treat to be on the scene of the biggest sporting event we've had around here (Dallas) for a few years.

I'd only followed the Mavericks casually this year until the end of the regular season--but I'd become a semiserious fan during the playoffs, so I'm really grateful to get to work around the games here. And it really looked like they had the Heat's number, until the last few minutes of the third game. There were lots of glimmers of brilliance after that, but losing four games in a row was one dramatic reversal of fortune. 

The Miracle of Compound Interest

I've been exploring quite a variety of internet "forums" or "newsgroups" lately, partly because I intend to set up one for the buyer's of an E-Book I'm writing. Still haven't got the title, but tentatively, it's something like "More Fun with Digital Photography".

There's thousands of forums, all manner of special interests, and amazing conversations that go on. Gotta be careful, they can be voracious Time Leaches.

One that I posted on today is the forum for Investment U.
www.InvestmentU.com
It's a free educational service, with weekly email newsletter, and other services including a new forum, which I just entered today.

One person had asked for help--said he'd considered starting investing when he was about 20, but had been too afraid. But now he's newly married and has a daughter to help support, and wonders if it's too late to start.

Another forum member replied with good advice:

"1) Set a goal.
2) Write down your goal.
3) Create a plan. (Those who fail to plan, plan to fail).
4) Seek out a mentor or teacher/coach you can learn from.
5) Based on what you learn, revise your plan so that it has a greater chance of success.
6) Keep visualizing your success.

(Michael Masterson) estimates you will need 1000 hours to become competent in a field, 5000 hours to become a master, and that time can be cut by 25% or so with a good teacher/coach.
So if you devote 10 hours per week to learn investing, you will need up to 100 weeks to become competent (2 years) or 500 weeks (10 years) to become a master.
In other words, what you want won't happen overnight.
Persistence is going to be the key. "

My contribution:

That was excellent advice.
And as far as investing is concerned, a few years of steady experience is about right to become competent (provided you learn steadily from your experience).
I'd caution you not to try to jump into being too aggressive too quickly.

But do get started.
No matter how small.
If your investable funds are going to be very modest for a while, you might buy individual stocks via DRIP programs. There's a local writer Scott Burns here in Dallas who recommends various varieties of Couch Potato Portfolios, based on stock and bond indexes.
(Be sure to maximize your tax savings via IRA/401K's, etc.)
There are lots of sane ways to get started.
Doesn't matter so much which one you pick.
Just get started.
Do a plan.
Then work to gradually improve your results.
As you gradually become more competent as an investor,
and gradually accumulate more capital,
you can gradually ratchet up the level of aggressiveness in your investments.
But always focus as much or more on NOT LOSING MONEY as you do on your rate of return.

One VISUALIZATION TOOL that helped me get started:
Find one of those compound rate of return calculators, where you can plug in an initial amount of investment, and a periodic contribution (like $100 month or whatever), which will extrapolate out what you'll accumulate after so many years. Look at what that does in 20 years or so, and you'll be mighty motivated. It's fun to plug in different contribution rates, and different rates of return, to see what that does over the long run.
Just for instance, according to a calculator @ http://www.dinkytown.net/java/InvestmentReturn.html
If you start with nothing, but invest $200 month @ 20%, after 24 yrs you'll have well over a million dollars ($1,130,355). That's assuming no taxes (use IRA) and without considering inflation.

I'm not so sure that Einstein really said that compound interest was the most powerful force in the universe, but anyway, it's plenty powerful!

World's looking flat, but volcanos simmering

Read some interesting thoughts today at "The Daily Reckoning"--Bill Bonner is chiding Thomas Friedman's idea that "The Earth is Flat", that globalization has carried us into an entirely new world of opportunity:

"Thanks to modern technology and the spread of robust American-style capitalism (to say nothing of the protection racket run by the empire's military forces), we all play on the same level field of global commerce. We also wear the same clothes...talk the same language (English), share the same political ideology (humbug democracy), and worship the same God (mammon)."

Of course Friedman's "Flat Earth" is an important part of what's happening--most of our high tech toys, and even our clothes, are manufactured in China, or other points east. China makes 'em, we buy 'em. We go deeper into debt, but China lends it back to us, at pretty low interest (for now). We need them, but they need us just as bad. For awhile now, we've had it pretty good. The toys get cheaper, and even if we don't earn any more money, nowadays it's easy to be a debtor: our government borrows from China and Japan, our household borrows from HEL (Home Equity Loans).

But Bonner cautions there may be unstable forces of tectonic scale simmering beneath this apparently "flat" world we've become so fat and happy in.

One big instability is increasingly skewed wealth distribution. Within the U.S. and the rest of the "first world", the business owners and investors are getting richer, benefiting from globalized markets. But most of the workers, from auto assemblers to pilots to IT pros to filmworkers, are seeing their incomes stagnate and decline.

I was struck by something called the "Gini Index", which is a measure of income disparity:
"Economists measure wage equality with way they call a Gini Index. At zero, people all earn the same thing. At 100, the rich get all the income.
Currently, in Japan the Gini Index is 25. In Europe, it is 32. In America, the index is at 40, and in China, it is at 45."

If the Gini index is a measure of instability, it's striking how close we are to China on that measure.

Bonner concludes:
"In America, low-level earners can't get ahead because they have no bargaining power. They are competing with a billion workers in Asia willing to do the same work for less than one-tenth the cost. And in China, there is also growing income inequality between those who have joined the global economy and those who have not. Some 500 million people live in coastal cities in China and participate in modern commerce, but there are another 700 million who still live in the countryside. While the cities grow richer, the poor in China are left behind, like America's industrial workers.

In short, the world is not getting flatter at all. It is getting flatter in some areas, and steeper in others. There is less difference between China's industrial workers and those in America, but the difference between the globalized wage slave and the capitalists who employ them is growing.

Beneath the surface of Friedman's flat Earth, the pressure is growing -either in China or in America and sooner or later, it is bound to explode."

(Bill Bonner is one of many contributors to "The Daily Reckoning", a free daily newsletter on economics, investments, politics, etc. @ www.dailyreckoning.com

Working with my Jimmy Jib at the ATT annual sales kickoff

 
 

With the great Jim Rohn, at a Dallas event

 
 

Great Quotations about Light

"Where there is much light, the shadow is deep." -- Goethe

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you."
-- Maori Proverb

"You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in."
--Arlo Guthrie

These are some favorite quotes of mine, which I've been using in my email signature for a couple months. I've been surprised that nobody has commented on them. I think they're really neat individually, and the juxtaposition of them strikes off new sparks every time i notice and read them.

The Goethe and the Maori quotes work as literal statements of the way light works in the physical world of vision and perception, but they also reverberate profoundly of another dimension of spirit, of duality and unity beyond duality. And lest I get too serious, Arlo brings me back down to the ground.

Don't know much about Goethe, except that he sure did say some powerful pithy quotes. And also he did "Faust." My roommate in college my freshman year was fluent in German, and he said he thought Goethe was a greater writer than Shakespeare. I was too anglocentric to buy that, but now I'm thinking intrigued about it. Won't be learning German though, and I'm grateful I came by English the easy way.

One of my many pleasures/diversions/timewasters online is collecting quotes, and several by Goethe are great.

"I love those who yearn for the impossible"

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, BEGIN IT. Action has magic, grace, and power in it."
--Goethe


"Action is eloquence"

"All glory comes from daring to begin."
--William Shakespeare

Mike with hdcam

 

First Blog Post--Old Master's Paintings Style

Just getting started, mostly exploring and puttering, definitely not settled on a single direction or focus (for this blog, I mean, and maybe more).

What's a blog good for? -- public diary, forum to explore and promote my interests, or maybe just a great diversion. ??

Anyway, there's clearly lots of exciting potential in this medium, so I'm glad to be starting, and since I don't know where I'm going with this, it's all possibility. Open possibilities--no visible limits. That is exciting.

One of my interests in my longtime career as a cameraman, is lighting. Viewing what natural and manmade lights do when they illuminate people and objects, and exploring how these can be worked with to create and finesse images.

Here's something I posted this morning on a local listserve here in Dallas, responding to a question from a film student about how to light her interviewees for a documentary she's beginning.

LIGHTING - Old Master's Paintings Style - ADVICE NEEDED
What Jim said is correct, but I would say it a little differently regarding “single strong point source light on the key side”.

The key should be strong in the sense that it is dominant in the scene, but a candle flame can be just as dominant in the scene as full sunlight, if there’s nothing else to illuminate the scene. Of course you need adequate exposure for your camera system (NO gain).

In fact a candle can be effectively “stronger” than the sun, because direct sunlight usually is accompanied by bluish fill light, from the rest of the sky (usually about 3 stops lower than the “key” from the sun).

For “Chiarascuro” the key should be set at a low angle, and extremely to the side, so if your subject were a sphere, only half or less of it would be lit, and the dark side is very dark, nearly black with very little fill light. Normally this will be in a dark room, where the only light source is the key, and perhaps a very low fill light, and perhaps a back light on the subject, and a low level background light. I’d start by setting the key to work, keep it off the background, and only add anything else if necessary.

The choice of background will be important—generally you’ll want it to be dark. One fashionable look employed in docs is a relatively extreme side key on the subject, against a totally black background, like a flat black cloth.

Rather than a pointsource, the key itself can actually be a softlight, to simulate “north light”. (The “Old Masters” studios had large windows on the North side, that gave a very large softlight from the skylight). What makes it “chiaroscuro” is the angle of the key extremely to the side, with dark background, and little or no fill.