11,000,000 Over-Exposed Pixels. Keep or Insta-delete?

What’s Up?

Vasili Chernishoff and I continue to enjoy countless opportunities on the Huguenot Memorial Park/Jacksonville Royal Terns and Chicks and More Extended IPT. More and more tern chicks continue to move from the colony to the open beaches. There is tons of flight photography with the adults bringing in fish of all kinds, squid, and small soft-shell stage crabs. I saw my first flying juvenile royal on Wednesday and got some great images of a young one in flight on Thursday afternoon with the 300mm f/2.8 GM lens, the 1.4X TC, and the a-1 ii. The winds have been mostly SW in the mornings (bad) and mostly S in the afternoons, the latter great when it was cloudy.

Yesterday afternoon we were joined by a lovely couple, Stan and Saloni DeTurris from Gainesville, FL. Stan is the photographer. He uses a Nikon Z6 II, a 70-200 f/2.8 with the 2X TC, and the 200-500 and is looking to upgrade his gear. After a great dinner prepared by Chef Morris — seared tuna, sautéed flounder, and butternut squash, we headed to the beach. It took me a full 30 minutes to get his camera in working order by putting AF on the shutter button, adding a histogram (RGB) and highlight alert to Playback, and experimenting with the various AF patterns. And to have him remove the camera strap.

Next we set a shutter speed and I explained that for most bird photography we want to use the wide open aperture and control the exposure by changing the ISO to expose to the right. He is still working to break his habit of holding the lens with the palm of his left hand facing the ground rather than supporting the lens from below with his palm facing the sky.

The camera strap and rear button focus had combined to make bird photography nearly impossible. A short time after he began shooting he said, “In the last five minutes I’ve made the best bird photographs I have ever made.” Back at the ranch, he thanked me profusely for the instruction, described the afternoon as both sublime and great. More than anything he needs to upgrade his Nikon mirrorless camera body as I would describe the AF system of the Z9 II as rudimentary at best.

Today is Friday 4 July 2025. Happy birthday to the USA. Every year without fail we read of folks being blinded or burned or severely injured so please be careful with the fireworks. The morning forecast is calling for mostly to partly cloudy with a gentle breeze from the NW. Not good, especially if partly cloudy turns out to mean mostly sunny as it usually does. We will of course, be heading to the beach early. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have a wonderful and productive day and that you have fun too. Do remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com.

If an item — a Delkin flash card, a Levered-clamp FlexShooter Pro, or a Wimberley lens plate — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are — out of ignorance — using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads. And the same is true in spades when ordering new camera bodies or lenses. My advice will often save you some serious money and may help you avoid making a seriously bad choice. Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. If you are desperate, you can try me on my cell at 863-221-2372. Please leave a message and shoot me a text if I do not pick up.

Don’t Just Shoot: Learn

If, like Stan DeTurris and Abe Curland most recently, you are interested in changing your life and becoming a better photographer by joining me somewhere in the field, consider the Extended IPT at Sebastian Inlet for Ospreys and more (SEPT 25 to NOV 24, 2025), a San Diego IPT for Pacific-race Brown Pelicans and more (JAN 6 to FEB 2, 2026), or for Roseate Spoonbills at Stick Marsh mid-March 2026, please e-mail for dates, rates, terms, and additional information. Or shoot me a text to 863-221-2372. All offerings include options for shared AirBnB lodging. Ground transportation during your stay is a possibility on most trips.

This is the Photo Mechanic screen capture for an image was created on 27 June 2025 on the Huguenot Memorial Park/Jacksonville Royal Terns and Chicks and More Extended IPT by many multiple IPT veteran Vasili Chernishof. Standing at full height he used the handheld Canon RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens with the Canon Extender RF 2x and the remarkable Canon EOS R1 Mirrorless Camera. ISO 4000: 1/3200 sec at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:33:21pm on a mostly cloudy afternoon. Image #1: Royal Tern in flight Image courtesy of and copyright 2025: Vasili Chernishof

Why the Over-Exposure?

We talked about getting the right exposure for the birds flying or landing in front of the vegetated dune. And we got some very nice ones. Vasili did not realize that if he pointed his lens above the dune into the fairly bright north western sky that he would need to at least double his shutter speed or halve the ISO.

The RawDigger screen capture for the image above. Image #1A: Royal Tern in flight Image courtesy of and copyright 2025: Vasili Chernishof

Keep or Delete?

With 11,000,000 OvExp pixels, would you keep this image or delete it? If this is an insta-delete for you, why did you make that decision. If you would keep it, leave a comment letting us know why and detailing your image optimization plans. My decision will follow in the next blog post.

The RawDigger Adapted (pink) Histogram

In the RawDigger e-Guide, you will learn exactly how to set up the Adapted “pink” RawDigger Histogram and how to use it to quickly and easily evaluate the exposure or raw file brightness of images from all digital cameras currently in use. RawDigger was especially helpful to me as I have struggled with R5 exposures and learned my new camera body, the Sony Alpha a1.

RawDigger e-Guide with Two Videos

The RawDigger e-Guide with Two Videos

by Arthur Morris with Patrick Sparkman

The RawDigger e-Guide was created only for serious photographers who wish to get the absolute most out of their raw files.

Patrick and I began work on the guide in July 2020. At first, we struggled. We asked questions. We learned about Max-G values. We puzzled as to why the Max G values for different cameras were different. IPT veteran Bart Deamer asked lots of questions that we could not answer. We got help from RawDigger creator Iliah Borg. We learned. In December, Patrick came up with an Adapted Histogram that allows us to evaluate the exposures and raw file brightness for all images created with all digital camera bodies from the last two decades. What we learned each time prompted three complete beginning to end re-writes.

The point of the guide is to teach you to truly expose to the mega-Expose-to-the-Right so that you will minimize noise, maximize image quality, best utilize your camera’s dynamic range, and attain the highest possible level of shadow detail in your RAW files in every situation. In addition, your properly exposed RAW files will contain more tonal information and feature the smoothest possible transitions between tones. And your optimized images will feature rich, accurate color.

We teach you why the GREEN channel is almost always the first to over-expose. We save you money by advising you which version of RawDigger you need. We teach you how to interpret the Max G values for your Canon, Nikon, and SONY camera bodies. It is very likely that the Shock-your-World section will shock you. And lastly — thanks to the technical and practical brilliance of Patrick Sparkman — we teach you a simple way to evaluate your exposures and the raw file brightness quickly and easily buying the Adapted RawDigger histogram.

The flower video takes you through a session where artie edits a folder of images in Capture One while checking the exposures and Max-G values in RawDigger. The Adapted Histogram video examines a series of recent images with the pink histograms and covers lots of fine points including and especially how to deal with specular highlights. The directions for setting up the Adapted Histogram are in the text.

If we priced this guide based on how much effort we put into it, it would sell it for $999.00. But as this guide will be purchased only by a limited number of serious photographers, we have priced it at $51.00. You can order yours here in the BAA Online Store.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.