The paper aims to highlight the advantages of using data supplied by digital image correlation (DIC) and infrared thermography (IRT) to study the thermomechanical behavior of materials. It describes an experimental procedure for the determination of mechanical energy and heat sources involved locally during a heterogeneous tensile test. This procedure involves two complementary imaging techniques: DIC provides in-plane displacement fields while IRT enables the temperature distribution at the specimen surface to be monitored. Numerous different application examples are successively proposed to underline the promising potential of this experimental approach. Kinematical assessments can reveal the extent of homogeneity of the deformation state for a given gauge length. They can also help to determine the relevance of the variables and/or material parameters introduced in the behavioral description at the length-scale imposed by the spatial resolution of optical systems (typically 0.1 mm). Moreover, infrared and kinematical data can be used to derive heat source fields induced by the specimen loading and then to generate information on the dissipative or coupled nature of the deformation mechanisms.