CAUTION: What follows will be very technical and is not for everyone. This is a long, detailed post.
The idea for this post comes from a reference in another forum. Since I would like to understand this approach so I can decide to incorporate it into my exposure method, I will keep my comments as neutral as possible and invite all objective, clear and rational responses. Here is the link to the reference.
http://www.johnshawphoto.com/category/exposure/I shot the appropriate photos as raw's according to this link and looked at them in LR. I cannot post the pictures because they are raw's and the jpg's will not reflect accurately what we need to know. Anyone interested in getting the raw's should let me know and I will send them by dropbox. Here is specifically what I did.
1. I set the camera on a tripod and took a basic picture at ISO 800 (to introduce noise), aperture priority (f/7.1) and 1/30. Canon 60D, 18-200 mm lens.
2. I switched to manual exposure and increased exposure until "blinkies" started to show. This occurred at f/7.1 and 1/20.
3. I continued increasing the shutter speed in increments equivalent to 1/3 stop. This obviously made the pictures lighter and shifted the histogram to the right.
The closest I could get the histogram to the right was f/7.1 and 1/10. This is the end of the technical, factual part of the experiment.
This last shot was way too bright for my taste and I presume most people would say it is severely overexposed. As expected, when I zoom into a shadow, I find good detail and no noise. When I decrease the brightness to a pleasing level, the histogram obviously shifts to the left. Here is the rub. Comparing this adjusted photo with the one in which blinkies first occurred, both pictures have the same shadow detail, noise and comparable mid-tones and highlights. Bear in mind that I am not a pixel-peeker. While I looked at these pictures and 1:1 and 3:1, I base my final conclusion upon "normal" viewing distance. The closer you look, the more you will find wrong.
Here are my conclusions and I invite people to comment critically, clearly and objectively.
1. Exposing beyond the right and adjusting the brightness to a desirable level do not improve noise or shadow detail.
2. The overall appearance of the standard exposed-to-the-right and adjusted exposed-beyond-the-right pictures are comparable.
Since I am looking to improve my picture taking, I am hoping someone will find something wrong with I have done and offer a compelling reason supported by examples to merit exposing beyond the right. Again, I am willing to share my raw's.