What people see
after the noise clears.

Understanding why, not memorizing which buttons to push

“I just wanted you to know that I am very impressed and know that my membership was money well-spent. One specific comment: I have watched numerous “tutorial videos” from others and am usually underwhelmed. They just push buttons in PI without explaining and without giving the viewer a way to see exactly what is being done. You take the time to explain the functions and point out exactly what buttons you are pushing. Fantastic job!! Thanks for coursework that is really useful.”

PB  ·  USA

“This is unlike “other trainings” where the focus is on “click here and then click there”, without actually explaining the “why”. Thank you for the trainings.”

SB

“Adam Block has a couple great tutorials showing times to use different tools multiple times when normally you do it once before stretching. The trick is to actually learn what the tool is doing and why its doing it — this is why Adam Block is the defacto standard in learning to process! What everyone ignores and just simply hits a couple of checkboxes and buttons, he explicitly and deeply demonstrates the how, when, and why you want to do such or such for every tool! While Adam’s tutorials are very much PI oriented, the concepts used in PI by Adam apply to many if not all astro-processing software packages. The UI may be different but the algorithms under the hood are basically the same. Heck, I have my own tools I have written thanks to listening to Adam!”

Cloudy Nights  ·  Forum

“I’ve watched dozens of free YouTube videos, and they really pale in comparison to what you learn through Adam Block course videos. If you’ve invested likely thousands already in the equipment for this hobby, it’s odd to balk at $215 (or whatever the price may be) for what is far and beyond the best deep dive into Pixinsight processing available. With Adam’s courses you don’t learn just a work flow, you learn exactly what you are doing / what the parameters mean / why the results are what they are when you do this or that, and how it is doing what it is doing. You step away with master-level insight as you move forward on your own with this software.”

Facebook  ·  Comment

“The videos are outstanding. I’ve been using PI exclusively to process my images for some years now and accordingly have some experience and proficiency with the program. Nonetheless, found the videos to be very helpful and informative. Particularly useful are your easy to follow explanations of how the various tools and processes work. I feel certain that these tutorials will significantly shorten the learning curve for both new and experienced users.”

S. Leshin  ·  Arizona

“Although I am only part of the way through Adam’s videos, what has impressed me most is his very detailed and thorough presentations of the Pixinsight interface and the basic tools that make up the user interface. His presentations are not rushed, professionally prepared and delivered, and frequently updated with new addendums as the tools of Pixinsight are in a constant state of development and improvement. I especially like his “big picture” approach to understanding each process tool and the slow stepwise development of an in-depth understanding of the various boxes and data options contained in the process tools. In summary, if you are trying to decide if Adam Block’s tutorials will be worth the money spent, I say yes and then some.”

TM  ·  USA

“Of all the resources that I have used, I highly recommend subscribing to Adam Block’s Pixinsight tutorials, both the Fundamentals and Horizons, if you are serious about learning Pixinsight. It’s more than 60 hours of instruction so it takes a serious investment of time to get the most out of it, but I have seen the fruits of such an investment in my own images. I am now going back to old data sets from 2-3 years ago and reprocessing often more than once. Most importantly, I now think more about what I want to do and how to use the tools in PI to get the result I am looking for, rather than just going through a script blindly and getting a canned or suboptimal result. Recently, I came to a situation with an image that just did not fit what I had previously done with similar data and I was able to think my way through it. I can now make conscious and informed choices with specific goals in mind at each step and know what knobs to tweak to get there.”

C. Foster  ·  USA

From years of hunting-and-pecking to actually knowing PixInsight

“Hi Adam, Just wanted to say thank you for offering such a fantastic training course. I struggled for weeks hunting and pecking on Google and YouTube, picking up a bit here and there but not really understanding the reasons behind why certain things were being suggested, combined with the fact that PixInsight changes so fast that nothing is up to date. I appreciate the way you explain things clearly but without being overly verbose, and especially appreciate your keeping everything 100% current and up to date. That definitely sold me on your courses and I’ve purchased both the FastTrack and your Fundamentals course. Well worth the price. Thanks again! Jeff”

JN  ·  USA

“I’ve been trying to learn Pixinsight for a couple of months. Your course, Fundamentals, is absolutely the most logical, thorough, and well thought out approach by far. In a couple of days, I have progressed well beyond what I’ve learned in a couple months by hunting and pecking. Thanks, you are a master! Keep up the good work Adam, it is appreciated.”

MB  ·  USA

“Even at the old age of 82, I truly do feel I understand the basics of how the various processes are set up and what the settings mean and their effect on the image. Adam, I have been putting off for over 2 years seriously starting your Pixinsight tutorials. What a mistake on my part. So I am most anxious to continue with the next steps of sequencing these processes. Many thanks for your work!!”

R. Jones  ·  USA

“My goodness — this (FastTrack Training) has to be one of the clearest, easiest to follow, most informative video courses I have taken in ages! I had thought I might have thrown a bunch of money away buying Pixinsight, since it seemed so opaque to me. But not anymore! What a great application! Thank you for opening it up to me!”

JG  ·  USA

“I have taken more than one image processing course and these are far more useful than the courses and far cheaper. I love these. I am not proficient in PI and probably will never be but they are terrific to just watch and then practice. I particularly like the fact that he goes into a lot of easy to understand theory.”

Cloudy Nights  ·  Thread

“Well, your dastardly scheme worked, since I have now gone and become a Fundamentalist (after doing FastTrack Training). But I have to tell you, you have completely changed my view of Pixinsight, which I had thought was just going to gather dust on my computer’s virtual shelf since I could not get my brain wrapped around the UI. So now the scales have fallen from my eyes and I have become a true believer. Hallelujah!”

Anonymous  ·  USA

“I have dabbled in astrophotography for some time and followed your adventures through Photoshop to PixInsight. Although my fundamental understanding of the processes and mathematical background of the software are limited it is always a delight to follow your explanations and detail in the presentations. I have also had a version of PixInsight for many (many) years and invested many days of effort trying to get to grips with it. Sadly without much success! However, I have found your ‘Fundamentals’ package to be most excellent and although not proficient, I feel very confident in using PixInsight thanks to your superb tutorials. I now think it is time to move on so I have invested in Horizons. So pleasures to come! Thank you for putting all this together.”

J. Lutkin  ·  USA

Results other people noticed — APOD, awards, and the same data, twice

“Today’s NASA APOD is my first! I’m still in shock. I owe you, Adam Block, a big thank you for your incredibly detailed tutorials which are the best I have ever seen! You’re a profound inspiration! I doubt that this APOD would have been possible without membership to Adam Block Studios. I’ve learned so much and still have much to learn. I’m looking forward to more rich content.”

DJ  ·  Canada

“Hi Adam! Wanted to thank you as I am one of your online students. Although I’ve just started AP in August 2020 with no background in photography or anything, by watching and following your instructional courses, my picture above was selected as a Notable Submission to APOD! Although the stars were still terrible, I used your NGC 3486 tutorial to process M31 and the end result was still beyond my expectations. Sincere thanks-”

IG

“I want to thank you for all the great information in your Fundamentals and Horizons courses. It is great to understand how the different tools work and figure out what to use to solve a problem. I have an 8 inch scope and live in cloudy NH, so this has been a challenge… I recently submitted M63 to Astrobin and got my first Top Pick, and I really do attribute that to taking your courses.”

LP  ·  USA

“Hello Adam. Maybe you find the image included interesting for your purposes… it’s the same picture, exactly the same data, but before and after your courses. The data are not perfect, but it’s clear some improvement… I hope it will be useful for marketing…”

P. Goles  ·  Chile

“Your pictures are masterpieces. Thank you for sharing. Thank you so much also for your online courses about Pixinsight — they changed my mind and my pictures improved a lot. Here are two pictures; the first is the one I started from, the other is what I was able to get after listening to your Pixinsight Fundamentals videos. Maybe it would not be the best picture ever but I’m pretty satisfied with it.”

F. Pelizzo  ·  Italy

“Just wanted to thank you for sharing your expertise in astronomy image processing. Thanks to your video tutorials, I was able to adopt your processing methods and was selected as APOD for today! Looking forward to your new tutorials, and hopefully some deep dive into PixInsight functionalities as well.”

P. Kehusmaa  ·  Finland

“I dont have an inquiry, just some comments. The distinction I would make between your courses vs many others is kind of like comparing the experience of learning to paint with watercolor — understanding the tools, the rules — to going out to a paint-by-numbers activity. Its not just that my images look better (which is great), its that I am a better imager. My images look better because I now understand what I could be doing differently, not just following a set instructions that may or may not work on the next image.”

JS  ·  USA

Sometimes it’s not really about the image

“On a very personal level, I’ve been going through a very rough time in my life, and the gift of your courses could not have been better timed. You’ve helped me build a foundation upon which I can grow with confidence, curiosity, and wonder. When I was first diving in, I submitted an inquiry through the site regarding trouble I was having finding the FastTrack videos, and you took the time to reach out personally and ensure I could find them. The time you spent helping me find those classes, as well as the enormous amount spent on your amazing courses, mean a great deal to me. Thank you for sharing your gifts, and enriching this hobby for so many folks.”

JS  ·  USA

“I’ve spent many years in higher education pursuing my degrees (DVM, PhD, certification in pathology — crazy I know). Your teaching and explanation of concepts are some of the best I’ve experienced. I’m retired now, so astrophotography is not only an avocation but an avenue for continued learning and wonderment. Your videos and ability to convey complex concepts, especially to those who didn’t initially follow a path of image processing and mathematics, are unrivaled.”

JB  ·  USA

“As you know, I’m a big Blockhead, I’m retired and this is pretty much all I do. Every day I learn something new from having watched one of your lessons, 10+ times. Here’s the thing — the genius of your stuff is not the big lesson as a whole, incredible and useful as they are, but the true grit lies in the little stuff. Today I learned the value and complete understanding of a permissive mask, something you mentioned as a passing comment in one of the lessons, and it has become one of the most valuable tools I have. Anyway, thank you maestro!”

RB  ·  USA

“I am now waist deep in the fundamentals course. I just needed to tell you that you are a great teacher. I am not sure what I am more impressed with — you or PixInsight. I am reminded of a poem by John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer:”

“Then I felt like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific.”

CS  ·  USA

More reviews, unedited

“The “secret” is understanding the tools in PI. I watched a handful of YouTube videos on PI which were well-meant, but awful. They suggested just plugging in pre-cooked numbers into the tools without regard for the image, the curves, or any understanding of what they were trying to accomplish. So my “secret sauce” is this: the Adam Block videos. They are dense, because he is not only teaching you PI, but also basics of digital astrophotography. He has a ton of free videos on YouTube in addition to the paid ones. I am not affiliated with Adam, nor am I trying to suck up. I’m just grateful.”

JM  ·  USA

“Adam, just signed up for your fundamentals course and I’m blown away by the volume of pertinent content there. Overnight it has improved my images. After a year of pushing through PI on my own, I’m wishing I signed up sooner now. Thank you.”

YouTube  ·  Comment

“Your videos truly are one of a kind — easy to understand yet incredibly full of advanced information. I am a better astrophotographer because of your videos so I must thank you for that. Keep up the great work!”

ELM  ·  France

“This image is still far from perfect but I haven’t even scratched the surface of Adam Block’s fundamentals course and holy hell am I excited to now dig into all my old data and apply his teachings. Best money I ever spent. Adam should be charging MORE for that fundamentals course to be honest. There’s enough content there to keep me busy for months, if not years.”

Facebook  ·  Comment

“Adam, I just wanted to let you know how your videos and other material has helped me with this amazing hobby. I have been a photographer for about 60+ years. I attended a Milky Way workshop and got hooked on night photography. I now have a nice setup: Askar V, ASI2600MC Pro, iOptron CEM26, and shoot from my driveway in Bortle 2 skies. As a retired engineer, I love your level of detail and find myself watching many numerous times to glean everything I can. Your videos on GHS changed my workflow for the better. Last Sunday, Orion was finally getting over the mountain across the valley from my house and I did two hours of data — 30 second subs, 240 of them — stacked and processed in PixInsight. I think your GHS process helped me a lot. Thanks for all you have done for us learning astrophotography.”

DC  ·  USA

“Just wanted to say thanks for all the videos. I started off with Nico during the pandemic, my N850 and taking 2 sec shots. After 3 years I’ve bought the Star Adventurer GTi and that’s it. My wife won’t let me have a telescope in the house! I remember in high school no one would sign up for Astronomy, so I sat in Physics and read the astronomy books in the corner that were never used. I became a pilot now, so I’m thankful for being able to look at the night sky on a moonless night. But your videos and instruction are truly a good gift and hobby for me.”

SO  ·  USA

“Hi Adam, I’m enjoying working through the Fundamentals course, having completed the FastTrack training. I just wanted to say that as a retired spectroscopist and physical scientist I consider myself well-versed in handling linear and nonlinear transformations, but I thought your video “Nonlinear images (in depth)” was absolutely outstanding, and the use of the grayscale tablet to illustrate the effect of the histogram transforms was absolutely inspired. This is probably the clearest explanation of nonlinear transformations that I have ever seen in layman’s terms. I hope people take the time to watch this rather than just skip on to running workflows!”

NE

“I subscribed to your wonderful Fundamentals course and am up to video #23! I have a scientific background and I can tell that your choice of words in your videos is very carefully done and very mindful of language ambiguities, a thing that I care very much about. I get really annoyed by the lack of scientific rigor when it’s needed, and you don’t disappoint! I’ve often given courses of atmospheric science to laymen audiences and I see myself in you when you take the time to explain why things are the way they are, even to laypeople. A silly aside, but what the heck: I’m French speaking (Québec) and your English pronunciation is superb! Combined with your slow pace, the clear and mindful explanations, your videos are a joy to listen to and easy to follow.”

RH  ·  Canada

“Adam, I just wanted to say thank you. I joined about a year ago and have enjoyed all of your work. It has been crucial to my astrophotography journey, particularly with PixInsight. I feel that I am at the point now to be dangerous 🙂 As a retired technical sales engineer, demos, training, and mentoring is in my DNA and your style is outstanding. If I were still working, I would require my direct reports to watch your videos and learn effective ways of communicating. You are absolutely outstanding! It’s amazing how much you have put together with such quality. I watch literally every day or when I have a question with PixInsight.”

RD  ·  USA

“I wanted to tell you first of all: thank you! I have seen more than half of the videos in the course and in all of them there is something I did not know — your level of knowledge is really impressive. I must also tell you I saw several of the workflow videos and at times you really blew my mind! The strategies and decisions you made to solve certain problems are impressive. I am a retired teacher and I am really taking advantage of my time to learn from your work. On top of that, 23 nights in a row have been either cloudy or windy, so I think I bought your course at the right time. I think that soon I will make another effort and buy Horizons! Please excuse any errors in this text, since I use Google Translate to write it.”

AA  ·  Argentina

“Good Evening Adam. I just wanted to thank you!! I purchased the Stretch Academy quite a few months back. Shortly afterwards I purchased Fundamentals. I have gotten so much out of your lessons. I refer back to them time and time again. I love the way you go so in depth with each process or script. It really helps me understand what each one is doing. So again, a big thank you!!!”

BM  ·  Oregon

“By the way, thank you for all the great things you provide to us, and I may say that your Adam Block Studios are for me the “Single Source of Truth” with respect to PI.”

DW  ·  Germany

“I am now waist deep in the fundamentals course. I’ve been touting your course to all my contacts on various forums. To be honest, I thought that the Fundamentals would be some help… I had no idea how much help it was, and will continue to be. It’s now a permanent part of my library of tutorials for Pixinsight. You have a great way of making things that are very complicated, very straightforward and, actually, simple! I intend on signing up for Horizons to continue my processing journey.”

TP  ·  USA

“OMG what a difference. I bit the bullet and signed up for Adam Block’s FastTrack course, the $60… it was worth every cent. Excellent explanations and his style suits my feeble mind too. So impressed I have now just signed up for his Fundamentals course too. I have to say now I see light at the end of the tunnel and am much happier about PI.”

MK  ·  Australia

“I want to also recommend Adam Block’s tutorials. He goes slowly and in depth — you won’t get left behind. He covers the interface of PI as well as processing and techniques, so you can learn how to edit your photos, but also how to use PI and the concepts behind it. It’s well worth the money and if you’re gonna get into it, definitely give them a shot.”

Cloudy Nights  ·  Forum

“I really enjoy your instruction. I have been thrashing around with Photoshop and other software, making very little progress for several years. With your instruction and Pixinsight I feel like I have hit the floor running and I am actually producing some nice images.”

JD  ·  USA

“Adam, I have taken numerous courses in PI. Therefore, I reluctantly signed on to your series only to find that, because of your hard work, I have advanced beyond all measure. I wish to thank you for your outstanding contribution to AP.”

SP  ·  USA

“I have spent time and money researching various astrophotography processing tutorials. Some I found a waste of time and others fair. After getting several recommendations from Cloudy Nights, I decided to start with Adam Block’s Pixinsight FastTrack series. It was outstanding to the point where I immediately followed up with his Fundamentals series. It is not just that the content is helpful — his communication style is easy to understand and keeps your attention. He obviously has spent a lot of time perfecting his public speaking skills.”

MS  ·  USA

“I just completed the Fast Track training and just purchased Fundamentals. You are a gifted presenter, as well as one of the top astro imagers in the world. I have admired your work for many, many years! These videos taught me more than all of the countless hours I have spent looking through YouTube combined. I was one of the beta testers for Adobe back in 1989 and have watched it mature into the application it is today. I am a recently retired professional commercial photographer with 43 years in the industry, and now look forward to using all of my accumulated skills to apply to this new venture.”

MS  ·  USA

“I’ve been working my way through PixInsight Fundamentals, and every time I learn something new I feel compelled to reprocess all my previous images. Thank you Adam, for some superb insights. If only I didn’t have to sleep.”

JD  ·  USA

“I purchased Fundamentals last week and I am so impressed. Next to my mount, it’s the best money I’ve spent. If I would like to upgrade to Horizons, how do I go about that? Thanks so much.”

JS  ·  USA

“After three years of using PI nearly every day I picked up some additional information watching a few of the Fundamentals videos. I really like the analytical approach and explanation of each tool set. No one else explains as well as you do. The Fundamentals are helping me change some of my process icons to work more effectively.”

RH  ·  USA

“The way you teach Fundamentals is great! I have been fumbling around YouTube videos on Pixinsight for about a year now. Your classes have already exceeded my knowledge base in the first week!”

GK  ·  USA

“I wish I would have found your tutorials a year ago. I have been struggling and not getting much satisfaction from all the tutorials around — they tell you to use these and those settings, never explaining why. I want to know what every number means! And you are doing that. You are an outstanding instructor: not only do you simplify complex concepts, but it seems you know what it takes for a newbie to understand — repetition, exercises, and discussions of the exercises. So, in my mind you have earned the World Best Pixel in Paradise (WBPP) award!!”

VB  ·  USA

“Just want to say that I’m really impressed by your course. Very structured, feels like listening to a professional teacher who likes his job. I’ve just finished the FastTrack section and… wow! I’ve been toying around with PI, but now I start understanding what I have to do!!! And now on to Fundamentals… thus far it has all been a joy to watch.”

KPK  ·  Netherlands

“I have loved the FastTrack training — I literally couldn’t stop watching because of how helpful it was. I’m ready to upgrade to the Fundamentals…”

MM  ·  USA

“I would like to thank you for such an excellent product. I’ve spent endless hours watching and studying various free products online with some success, but never had the “light bulb on” moment until your videos. The turning point for me was watching an online video which literally said to hit the apply button and trust that it works! Hard for my brain to accept that… I actually know what I’m doing now versus following someone’s workflow on YouTube! Worth every penny!”

B. Grady  ·  USA

“Hi Adam. I’m a new member and just wanted to say how much I am enjoying the Fundamentals videos. In particular I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the videos addressing issues with CMOS chips. As a long-term CCD imager, some of the videos on CMOS calibration issues have really helped me understand them better.”

B. English  ·  USA

“It was good to learn HOW some of the processes work as opposed to just what they do and fiddling with numbers and sliders. The explanations for the processes are clear and straight forward. Some of the most simple and straight forward suggestions he made for some of the processes that have continually given me problems have made the biggest improvement in my processing.”

Cloudy Nights  ·  Thread

“I have just finished viewing the Pixinsight fundamental sections and Adam has presented an outstanding series that is brilliantly executed. Adam is able to explain very complex subjects and make them understandable. He not only presents the why and how but what to do when things do not go as planned. Before, I tried to understand various workflows from other sources but became frustrated because I could not get the same results, and I almost gave up on Pixinsight. After going through Adam’s sessions, I found a new enthusiasm for the program. He always answers questions in a timely manner.”

E. Stuckey

“Wow — great series of courseware, it’s like getting a two week workshop at a great price, and at my own pace. I really stepped up my image processing game with Adam’s PixInsight tutorials. Can’t recommend them highly enough: easy to understand, incredibly thorough, and explains the “why” not just the “how.””

B. Valente  ·  California

“Like your CCDStack and Photoshop video materials, the new PI materials meet the high level of presentation quality that provides the viewer with substantive information to start and improve using PI. Providing users with the philosophy behind using PI processes to meet quality imaging objectives is invaluable. The videos far exceed the information quality found on YouTube or elsewhere. I am working alone on improving my PI skills and find the videos a powerful way to orient myself in the techniques of quality astrophotography processing.”

C. Kwadrat

“Adam’s tutorials are truly remarkable. As with all of his tutorials, they are clear and concise and a cornucopia of image processing gems that show in detail how the master creates his astonishing astro images. The tutorials cover the entire imaging process from calibrating data in CCDStack to using some indispensable tools in PixInsight. I look forward eagerly to his PixInsight tutorials.”

M. Ascherl  ·  Texas

“Fantastic value for the hours of videos — professionally done and well presented, entertaining and engaging, definitely top notch.”

S. Lewis  ·  New Zealand

“I just wanted to say thank you for knowledge sharing of your processing skills and experiences. It was quite a while ago I purchased some of your video guides, “Making every pixel count,” one for PS and one for CCDStack, and these really helped me on my astrophotography way! I feel strongly that without these I may have never progressed to where I can process now. I think you’re every astrophotographer’s processing hero and global benchmark for the best, stunning results.”

S. Mohr  ·  Australia

“Adam, you have the best tutorials… I first used them for Photoshop, and now with PixInsight. Your delivery and expertise are perfect and share the right amount of information at the right rate. I love that you keep the humanity in the videos instead of editing out, so that we know you’re just like the rest of us, albeit more skilled, and not just a robot! Your work is also breathtaking.”

T. Zittritsch  ·  USA