Satellite imagery often comes in separate grayscale bands. To visualize them in color or highlight features like vegetation, you need to combine them into composites. Here is the quick workflow for Landsat 8 data in QGIS.

The Basics

• TCC (True Color Composite): Mimics natural vision (Red, Green, Blue).
• FCC (False Color Composite): Uses Near-Infrared (NIR) to highlight vegetation in bright red.

Step 1: Stack the Bands

Instead of working with separate files, merge them into one file.

1. Load your Landsat bands (Bands 2, 3, 4, and 5) into the Layers Panel.
2. Go to Raster > Miscellaneous > Merge…
3. Click the (…) next to “Input layers” and select your bands.
4. Important: Check the box “Place each input file into a separate band.”
5. Run the tool. You now have a single “Merged” layer.

Step 2: Set the Symbology

Now, tell QGIS which band goes into which color channel.

1. Right-click the Merged Layer > Properties > Symbology.
2. Set Render type to “Multiband color.”
3. Assign the bands as follows (assuming your input order was B2, B3, B4, B5):

For True Color (Natural View):

• Red Channel: Band 3 (Landsat Red)
• Green Channel: Band 2 (Landsat Green)
• Blue Channel: Band 1 (Landsat Blue)

For False Color (Vegetation Analysis):

• Red Channel: Band 4 (Landsat NIR)
• Green Channel: Band 3 (Landsat Red)
• Blue Channel: Band 2 (Landsat Green)

Click Apply, and you are done! You can now toggle between natural views and infrared analysis simply by changing these band assignments.