A photograph method for the estimation of canopy structure has been developed and implemented in software named "Tree Analyser". It works from a set of digital photographs of a tree where each pixel is classified as vegetation or background. Each photograph must involve associated geometrical parameters, namely the distance to the tree trunk, height, elevation, azimuth direction and focal length. The method includes the estimation of canopy dimension, volume, total leaf area and spatial distribution of leaf area. Canopy height, diameter and volume are estimated on each image from plant silhouette. An iterative erosion process is used for computing crown volume. Estimation of total leaf area is based on gap fraction inversion, namely Beer's and binomial model. Spatial distribution of leaf area is estimated by nonlinear least square optimization technique. The methods have been successfully tested from a set of 3D digitised trees.
