Question: NDVI results from modified camera is inaccurate

What should I do to this pictures to improve the NDVI calculation?

There is not much that can be done after the photo is taken to improve its ability to provide good NDVI results.

How am I supposed to do the white balance with the red card?

Many cameras have a feature that allows a custom white balance. If the software for your camera does not allow this, it is not an option for you.

Is it true that by using the red filter there are some contamination of NIR in the red
channel?

Yes.

is that why the NDVI calculation is not accurate?

That is one reason.

A photo that can be converted to NDVI should have about three times more brightness in the NIR channel than in the VIS channel. Your photos have about 1.5 more NIR than VIS. A good candidate photo for NDVI using a red filter should have a color like this for healthy plants:

Below is an NDVI image made with Fiji from your photo. There is some very general plant health information there. Much of the pattern of NDVI is due to brightness and shade, not differences in plant health. It is best to have the scene illuminated evenly by the sun, and even better on bright cloudy days when there are limited shadows. Having the sun behind you helps a lot.

Chris

Many cameras have a feature that allows a custom white balance. If the software for your camera does not allow this, it is not an option for you.

Yes, my camera has the option to manually change the white balance using slider, and I point it to the red card outdoor with bright sunlight. How can I know the white balance is correct using the red card(For example the color is cyan or turqoise), because the configuration is done manually by sliding the value. Is it by trial and error until the color of plant is like the one you provided?

A photo that can be converted to NDVI should have about three times more brightness in the NIR channel than in the VIS channel. Your photos have about 1.5 more NIR than VIS.

Could you tell me how to improve that?

Below is an NDVI image made with Fiji from your photo. There is some very general plant health information there. Much of the pattern of NDVI is due to brightness and shade, not differences in plant health. It is best to have the scene illuminated evenly by the sun, and even better on bright cloudy days when there are limited shadows. Having the sun behind you helps a lot.

This photo is taken outdoor with the scene illuminated evenly by the sun, I don't really understand what you meant of "Much of the pattern of NDVI is due to brightness and shade, not differences in plant health." Could you please explain it more to me?

Thanks Chris

How can I use your colormap in MATLAB?

Thanks Chris

Is it by trial and error until the color of plant is like the one you provided?

Yes, that would be a good way to do it. What the camera is pointed at when you move the slider might be irrelevant unless you get a live preview.

Could you tell me how to improve that?

Set the white balance so the brightness of the blue channel is exaggerated.

Could you please explain it more to me?

When a photo (or part of a photo) is well exposed, the values for each pixel (DNs) of areas in the scene of interest (plants) will be on either side of the center of the range (0-255). For example blue (NIR) might be 210 and red (VIS) might be 70. If the photo is underexposed, those same pixels might have values of 150 and 10. In both cases, the difference between NIR and VIS is the same (140), but NDVI computed with those values will differ (0.5 vs. 0.875). NIR (210) is three times VIS (70) when the exposure is good, but NIR (150) is 15 times VIS (10) when the plants in the photo are underexposed. Overexposed plants also produce unreliable results.

Every pixel in the photo must be illuminated the same and exposed the same in order for the computed value of NDVI to be comparable among pixels in the same photo. Bright cloudy days might be the only time this is possible. The sun at your back will always help. Comparing NDVI values between two photos is rarely reliable because sun angle, sky color, exposure, etc., will differ among photos.

Your outdoor photo has areas where plants are in the sun and areas where plants are in the shade. Those plants could have identical "health" but dramatically different "NDVI" values.

How can I use your colormap in MATLAB?

I have not used MATLAB for this but others have: https://publiclab.org/search?q=matlab

Chris

I have successfully used your color map, but the result is different. What is the equation of NDVI that you used?

The histogram of one of the channels was probably stretched (one or more extreme points at either end removed and the rest stretched to fill the 0-255 range).

Sorry I don't really understand this one, how can I fix that so my result can be as vibrant as yours?

You ever said that the red channel is contaminated by NIR, how can I solve that?

When I point my camera to the card using auto white balance, nothing changed. And when I change it manually, the plant's color couldn't be like your example no matter how I change it. Could you please explain how you usually do the white balancing?

I have done white balancing manually with the range from the left to the right I defined as 0% - 100%.

This is taken with WB 0%

This is taken with WB 25%

This is taken with WB 50%

This is taken with WB 75%

This is taken with WB 100%

What is your thoughts about it? I can't produce the image with color of the plant to be turqoise like yours

This is the original image

This is taken with WB 0%

This is taken with WB 25%

This is taken with WB 50%

This is taken with WB 75%

This is taken with WB 100%