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Looking for an advanced beginner text on Astrophotography

Book Recommendations
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John Tucker avatar
John Tucker avatar

I’ve been doing AP for about 7 or 8 years now, on a somewhat intermittent basis, as I live in an area with lots of light pollution and overcast skies. For the first several years this was little more than electronically-assisted observing - I’d get a picture of something and be thrilled I could see it, and in terms of image quality, was mainly concerned with getting a decent signal to noise ratio.

In recent months I’ve started putting a lot more effort into developing my acquisition technique and learning some of the finer points of AstroPixel Processor, but I’m thinking it’s probably time to buy a book. I imagine I’ll eventually switch over to PixInsight, but for now I’m looking for a more general book rather before I leap into learning a new, big, complicated piece of software.

So coming coming to the point, what are your recommendations for AP books suitable for the advanced beginner?

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Tom Engwall avatar
Tom Engwall avatar

I do not have a book recommendation but if you are interested in learning Pixinsight, I would recommend the Masters of Pixinsight website and Adam Block’s website. Both have beginners sections that do a great job of introducing the software. The official pixinsight website has videos as well.

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Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar

Hi John,

I started the same way you did, that is, doing EAA, before diving into astrophotography. There are several good books and website out there, depending on how you best like to learn. I think one of the better ones is: The Deep Sky Imaging Primer by Charles Bracken. You can get it on Amazon. It is well written and organized. Now, it does into PixInsight as the main tool, but things are explained in an easy-to-follow manner.

AstroPixel Processor is a fine tool to use but I am not aware of any book emphasizing its use. However, there are a number of nice tutorials on how to use APP on its website and elsewhere online.

Bruce

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Guido Haak avatar
Guido Haak avatar

At some time I purchased an ebook version of “The Astrophotography Manual” by Chris Woodhouse.

I browsed through but knew most of it anyway. I seems to pretty exhaustive. On Amazon you can look into the table of contents and read some excerpts.

Fabrice Lamidey avatar
Fabrice Lamidey avatar

In the “not a book” recommendation section, Antoine & Dalia from Galactic Hunter have a very extensive and very beginner friendly set of (paying) courses on Pixinsight. It’s straightforward and not overly technical as some others can sometimes be.

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Tom Boyd avatar
Tom Boyd avatar

Bruce Donzanti · Dec 7, 2025 at 01:45 PM

Hi John,

I started the same way you did, that is, doing EAA, before diving into astrophotography. There are several good books and website out there, depending on how you best like to learn. I think one of the better ones is: The Deep Sky Imaging Primer by Charles Bracken. You can get it on Amazon. It is well written and organized. Now, it does into PixInsight as the main tool, but things are explained in an easy-to-follow manner.

AstroPixel Processor is a fine tool to use but I am not aware of any book emphasizing its use. However, there are a number of nice tutorials on how to use APP on its website and elsewhere online.

Bruce

I second the recommendation for Charles Bracken’s book. Fantastic book. Also, the third edition of his book now has a section on AstroPixel Processor.

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Phil Bordelon avatar
Phil Bordelon avatar

Tom Boyd · Dec 7, 2025, 02:27 PM

Bruce Donzanti · Dec 7, 2025 at 01:45 PM

Hi John,

I started the same way you did, that is, doing EAA, before diving into astrophotography. There are several good books and website out there, depending on how you best like to learn. I think one of the better ones is: The Deep Sky Imaging Primer by Charles Bracken. You can get it on Amazon. It is well written and organized. Now, it does into PixInsight as the main tool, but things are explained in an easy-to-follow manner.

AstroPixel Processor is a fine tool to use but I am not aware of any book emphasizing its use. However, there are a number of nice tutorials on how to use APP on its website and elsewhere online.

Bruce

I second the recommendation for Charles Bracken’s book. Fantastic book. Also, the third edition of his book now has a section on AstroPixel Processor.

Third the recommendation for Bracken’s book. I’m going through it now with great enjoyment and the revelations are remarkable. Well done authorship!

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Charles Pevsner avatar
Charles Pevsner avatar

I strongly concur with the recommendation for Charles Bracken’s "The Deep Sky Imaging Primer” — outstanding. Also “Pixinsight Workflows: A Step by Step Guide to Astrophotography Image Processing” by Max Dobres.

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Don Ogaard avatar
Don Ogaard avatar

Guess I’ll be the fifth or sixth to chime in and recommend Bracken. I learned a lot from it, and get a little more on each re-reading. It’s math-heavy (which I like), but you can skip the math and still get a lot out of it. It might be right up your alley, because he compares and contrasts different software packages. It convinced me to invest in PixInsight.

And if you do go with PI: Of course, Keller’s Inside PixInsight.

And to Mr. Pevsener: Dobres sounds really interesting! I’ll check it out - I’m making out my holiday gift list!

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Wim van Berlo avatar
Wim van Berlo avatar

“Mastering PixInsight” by Rogelio Bernal Andreo. As any software book, as soon as it’s published, it’s outdated. The core pixinsight methods an scripts are treated, as well as entire workflows. Of course it doesn’t cover third party scripts. It’s better than “Inside PixInsight”, in my opinion.

Cheers,

Wim

Mike Knittel avatar
Mike Knittel avatar

Tom Engwall · Dec 7, 2025 at 01:44 PM

I do not have a book recommendation but if you are interested in learning Pixinsight, I would recommend the Masters of Pixinsight website and Adam Block’s website. Both have beginners sections that do a great job of introducing the software. The official pixinsight website has videos as well.

I second Adam Block’s website for Pixinsight. I purchased the Stretch Academy series and it immediately improved my processing capabilities. Not only does he show you how to apply different techniques, but he tells you why so it makes sense.

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Kevin Morefield avatar
Kevin Morefield avatar

I would also recommend @Adam Block . Importantly, he keeps his videos up to date as PI and its processes progress. He’s extremely thorough and takes you through the basics and then builds on those. I learned my initial concepts with Adam’s USB drive sessions on CCDStack and Photoshop 10 years ago.

Kevin