diff --git a/api/builtins/ImageTagTransformer.go b/api/builtins/ImageTagTransformer.go
index c70be9007..051d05521 100644
--- a/api/builtins/ImageTagTransformer.go
+++ b/api/builtins/ImageTagTransformer.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func (p *ImageTagTransformerPlugin) findAndReplaceImage(obj map[string]interface
 	updated := false
 	for _, path := range paths {
 		containers, found := obj[path]
-		if found {
+		if found && containers != nil {
 			if _, err := p.updateContainers(containers); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/api/builtins/PatchJson6902Transformer.go b/api/builtins/PatchJson6902Transformer.go
index be2e430e8..24f6d3061 100644
--- a/api/builtins/PatchJson6902Transformer.go
+++ b/api/builtins/PatchJson6902Transformer.go
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ package builtins
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
-	jsonpatch "github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
+	"github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/ifc"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resid"
diff --git a/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go b/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
index 4cd6f528a..04e678522 100644
--- a/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
+++ b/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ package builtins
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
-	jsonpatch "github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
+	"github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resource"
diff --git a/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer.go b/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer.go
index af5ae4ad7..ccf2482a6 100644
--- a/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer.go
+++ b/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer.go
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func (p *plugin) findAndReplaceImage(obj map[string]interface{}) error {
 	updated := false
 	for _, path := range paths {
 		containers, found := obj[path]
-		if found {
+		if found && containers != nil {
 			if _, err := p.updateContainers(containers); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer_test.go b/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer_test.go
index c3eb4a6e7..1234dd4ed 100644
--- a/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer_test.go
+++ b/plugin/builtin/imagetagtransformer/ImageTagTransformer_test.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 package main_test
 
 import (
-	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/testutils/kusttest"
@@ -379,7 +378,7 @@ func TestImageTagTransformerEmptyContainers(t *testing.T) {
 
 	th := kusttest_test.NewKustTestHarnessAllowPlugins(t, "/app")
 
-	err := th.ErrorFromLoadAndRunTransformer(`
+	rm := th.LoadAndRunTransformer(`
 apiVersion: builtin
 kind: ImageTagTransformer
 metadata:
@@ -399,13 +398,16 @@ spec:
       containers:
       initContainers:
 `)
-
-	expectedErrMsg := "containers path is not of type []interface{} but <nil>"
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("expected error: %s; got nothing", expectedErrMsg)
-	}
-
-	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), expectedErrMsg) {
-		t.Fatalf("expected error: %s; got error: %s", expectedErrMsg, err.Error())
-	}
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(rm, `
+apiVersion: v1
+group: apps
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: deploy1
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers: null
+      initContainers: null
+`)
 }