The second harmonic of 527 nm laser light was imaged by a Schwarzschild microscope. Obtained second harmonic images are compared with the x‐rays. The second harmonic originates from near the critical density, when laser light is absorbed via resonance absorption or ion acoustic decay instability. A plastic target coated with 1000 A˚ Al was irradiated with a 527 nm laser beam without any beam smoothing technique. The obtained second harmonic image at 263 nm was compared with an x‐ray pinhole picture with a proper filter to observe Al 1.8 keV emission. This comparison was taken as a proof of principle since the over all patterns between the second harmonic and x‐ray images show very close correlation. Then the second harmonic images were taken with random phase plate and partially coherent laser light. These images should show the absorption distribution at an early part of the irradiation laser pulse. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.