... Using a simple 2-D Gaussian Point Spread Function (PSF) on a constant (flat) sky background, I derive a theoretical photometric and astrometric performance model for analytical and digital PSF-fitting stellar photometry. ... The photometric performance is maximized when either the effective background area or the effective-background-level measurement error is minimized. ... An important, but frequently ignored, noise source is the uncertainty of the measurement of the effective background level ( )...