Conventional color (CC) and color-infrared (CIR) photography have been used in a wide-range of remote sensing applications. Many users, however, do not fully understand or know how to interpret it. The objective of this paper is to describe the relationship of how spectral reflectances of plant species are registered on photographic film and how the resultant color tonal responses of the plants are produced in relation to their spectral reflectance. Green vegetation, for example, usually produces a red-magenta color tonal rendition in CIR photography. The bright green color of the noxious shrublet broom snakeweed [Gutierrezia sarothrae (Push.) Britt. and Rusby], how-ever, produced a deep, dark brown to nearly black tonal response in CIR aerial photography. The image response of this plant species was attributed to its low reflectivity of visible and near-infrared hght as a result of its erecto-phile structure which entrapped the hght of these spectral regions. Research studies addressing both aerial photo-graphy and plant reflectance data, therefore, can be more meaningful and better appreciated if one has a general understanding of these relationships.
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