Among other things, techniques and systems are provided for identifying when a pixel of an image sensor is in an idle period. A flag is utilized to differentiate when the pixel is in an idle period and when the pixel is in an integration period. When the flag indicates that the pixel is in an idle period, a blooming operation is performed on the pixel to reduce an amount of electrical charge that has accumulated at the pixel or to mitigate electrical charge from accumulating at the pixel. In this way, the blooming operation reduces a probability that the photosensitive sensor becomes saturated during an idle period of the pixel, and thus reduces the likelihood of electrical charge from a pixel that is not intended contribute to an image from spilling over and potentially contaminating a pixel that is intended to contribute to the image.