In the process of tracking a target with photoelectric tracking system, the target represents the characteristics of extended target when it approaches the tracking device. The size of the target increases rapidly beyond the view of sight, as the distance between the target and the photoelectric tracking device gets nearer and nearer. The tracking point jumps or drifts away frequently when using conventional methods such as based on centroid, shape center and correlation tracking, and even lose the tracking. To solve the problem, a steady tracking point extraction method is proposed. It calculates the movement orientation and principal axis of the target. Through tracking the head of the target, it guarantees the background taking up some ratio in the view of sight and avoids failure of segmentation or tracking point drifts away on target when the target beyond the view of sight. The binary morphology method is used for filtering and the shape center of the target head is calculated, which increases the stability of the tracking point on the target head. The simulation test and the experimental results show that the method proposed increases the stability and reliability of the tracking remarkably.