[![An NRG image](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5302/5581533793_35670ab2c1.jpg)](https://publiclab.org/sites/default/files/nrg.jpg)

This activity shows how to produce an infrared composite image such as NRG, where the Red and Green channels of a picture are displayed in green and blue, respectively, and the color red is used to display a new channel -- near-infrared. To learn more about the technique and why it works, read about the [near-infrared camera](/tool/near-infrared-camera) -- and make your own. If you need help, you can always ask the [mailing list](https://groups.google.com/group/publiclaboratory).

##Using Photoshop to do vegetation analysis with your pictures##

You can use Adobe Photoshop or another image manipulation program to composite an infrared and visible image to do vegetation/photosynthesis analysis. 

_To complete this activity, you'll need:_

* source images, from the close to the same angle, taken at close to the same time
  * one source image from a normal camera
  * one source image from a camera modified to take near-infrared images
  * to take these images, read more about assembling a [near-infrared camera](/tool/near-infrared-camera)
* Adobe Photoshop or the open source alternative, (GIMP)[http://gimp.org]. For some Macintosh users, [Pixelmator](http://www.pixelmator.com/) is a powerful but lightweight option by an independent software company.
* about **30 minutes** the first time; about 10 minutes once you get the hang of it

###Video Tutorial###

Watch this 10-minute video explaining how to align and composite your two source images. The example photos were taken from an airplane window by Stewart Long.

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