Rick Boozer has opened a series of posts that will provide a tutorial on advanced stellar photometry :  Photometry with AIP4WIN: A Tutorial – Part 1 – Astron Maven –

The science of photometry can be used by both amateur astronomers and professionals for some very advanced scientific work.  You can detect the light changes caused by eclipsing binary stars, plot the changes in luminosity of a variable star and even detect an exoplanet orbiting another star.  This tutorial will be your step-by-step guide on how to employ the powerful Magnitude Measurement Tool that comes with the renowned astronomical imaging software known as AIP4WIN by Richard Berry and Robert Burnell.  Special thanks to Mr. Berry for giving me permission to include screen images and extensive operating details from AIP4WIN.

The proper equipment for this endeavor is as follows:  a telescope with an accurate tracking drive, a sufficiently sensitive CCD or CMOS camera, and a computer with AIP4WIN installed.  AIP4WIN comes on a DVD accompanying the book The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing by the aforementioned Messrs. Berry and Burnell.