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These Astrophotography tutorials are designed to help you take your photography and image processing to the next level.  You will find tips for producing images like the ones in my photo gallery using a DSLR camera and a tracking mount.  Combined with the useful resources mentioned below, the astrophotography tutorials found on this website can help you effectively photograph deep sky objects from your own backyard.

Deep Sky astrophotography involves capturing galaxies, nebulae and star clusters up-close. 

astrophotography tutorials

In November 2017, I published a new astrophotography image processing tutorial to my YouTube channel. This video walks you through the techniques I use in Photoshop when processing deep sky objects captured in my backyard. I have used several different types of cameras for astrophotography over the years, but the following tutorials will be most useful to those who shoot with a DSLR camera through a telescope.

Recommended Processing Software:

100 best astrophotography targets

Astrophotography Tutorials

How to Polar Align Your Telescope Mount

Polar alignment is crucial for a sharp image.  In this tutorial, I discuss how to align your German equatorial telescope mount with the North celestial pole.

astrophotography tutorial


Deep Sky Stacker Settings for Astrophotography

Stacking and registering your images is an important part of DSLR astrophotography.  I’ll show you the Deep Sky Stacker settings I use to produce better photos.

Deep sky stacker settings


How to take pictures of the moon

In this tutorial, I share my camera settings and tips for moon photography. Whether you’re shooting a with a camera lens on a tripod or through a telescope, these helpful tips and tricks will help you capture the moon in all its glory.

moon photography


Deep Sky Processing with Adobe Photoshop

I use Deep Sky Stacker and Adobe Photoshop to turn my RAW images frames into a finished photo.  In this tutorial, I process the Lagoon Nebula using Adobe Photoshop actions from the Astronomy Tools Action Set. (Noel Carboni’s Tools)

Deep sky processing tutorial


Star Removal in Photoshop

Removing stars from your astrophoto can be useful for isolating nebulosity.  Use this image processing tip to pull out the details of your deep sky object without blowing out the stars in the image.

star removal in photoshop


How to Manually Stack Exposures in Photoshop

This technique is great for improving short exposure landscape astrophotography images without a tracking mount.  By manually aligning and stacking multiple exposures in Photoshop, you can reduce noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

Manually stack exposures


How to Create a HaRGB Composite Image in Adobe Photoshop

Since I started adding H-Alpha to my astrophotography images, a lot of amateur astrophotographers have asked me how to combine the Ha exposures with the regular color (RGB) photos. This tutorial shows you how I process each image and blend them together to create a HaRGB composite in Photoshop.


HaRGB Astrophotography tutorial


How to use a Bahtinov Mask for better focus

Achieving a sharp focus in an essential part of a successful imaging session. With the use of methods such as Live View and FWHM in BackyardEOS, we can consistently reach optimum focus on our astrophotography subjects.  In this tutorial, I discuss the use of a Bahtinov focus mask – that is designed to help you reach a sharp focus quickly and easily.

How to use bahtinov focus mask


How to Polar Align using SharpCap

SharpCap Pro has a great feature that can improve the accuracy of your Polar Alignment. Using this function with your autoguiding camera can align the RA axis of your mount with the North Celestial Pole.

Polar Align in SharpCap Pro

How to Take Flat Frames

Flat frames can make a world of difference to your astrophotography images. It only takes a few minutes to take a successful flat frame using the “white t-shirt method” with your DSLR camera.

How to take flat frames

5 Ways to improve you DSLR Astrophotography

If you have started to take deep-sky images with your DSLR, and you have questions about polar alignment, telescope balance or shooting dark frames, then the following guide can help you out.  I have also created a video on the subject that will highlight these key elements of capturing better images through your telescope.