Optical limiting (OL) properties of two phthalocyanines were investigated by using picosecond laser pulses at 532nm. The relative ratios k of the absorption cross section of the first singlet excited state to that of the ground state were approximately obtained by the analysis of the experimental results in which the reverse saturable absorption model of the three-energy-level scheme was employed. A significant comparison with fullerene C60 was presented for OL. The OL mechanisms have been analysed in detail.