Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) has played an important role in assessing green plant biomass through remote sensing on global scale since the early 1970s. The concept of NDVI is based on the fact that green plants show higher reflection in near-infrared region than in visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, it is well known that the relocation of chloroplasts in plant leaf cells may dramatically change the optical properties of plant leaves. In this study I traced the changes in the reflectance and transmittance properties of Tobacco leaves at the wavelengths of 660 and 800 nm after a sudden increase in light intensity. The results showed that NDVI of leaves gradually decreased from 72.7% to 69.9% when exposed to a sudden increase in light intensity from 30 to 1,200 μmol/m2 · s. This means that the error resulting from the physiological status of the plant should be accounted for a more precise understanding of ground truth corresponding to the data from the remotely acquired images.