diff --git a/pkg/deploy/api/test/ok.go b/pkg/deploy/api/test/ok.go
index a0d2d8d3a22d..5864b4001ac1 100644
--- a/pkg/deploy/api/test/ok.go
+++ b/pkg/deploy/api/test/ok.go
@@ -160,6 +160,18 @@ func OkPodTemplate() *kapi.PodTemplateSpec {
 	}
 }
 
+func OkPodTemplateMissingImage(missing ...string) *kapi.PodTemplateSpec {
+	set := sets.NewString(missing...)
+	template := OkPodTemplate()
+	for i, c := range template.Spec.Containers {
+		if set.Has(c.Name) {
+			// rememeber that slices use copies, so have to ref array entry explicitly
+			template.Spec.Containers[i].Image = ""
+		}
+	}
+	return template
+}
+
 func OkConfigChangeTrigger() deployapi.DeploymentTriggerPolicy {
 	return deployapi.DeploymentTriggerPolicy{
 		Type: deployapi.DeploymentTriggerOnConfigChange,
diff --git a/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation.go b/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation.go
index 40b3464dbe1f..e00f67795784 100644
--- a/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation.go
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ func ValidateDeploymentConfigSpec(spec deployapi.DeploymentConfigSpec) field.Err
 	if spec.Template == nil {
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Required(specPath.Child("template"), ""))
 	} else {
+		originalContainerImageNames := getContainerImageNames(spec.Template)
+		defer setContainerImageNames(spec.Template, originalContainerImageNames)
+		handleEmptyImageReferences(spec.Template, spec.Triggers)
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, validation.ValidatePodTemplateSpec(spec.Template, specPath.Child("template"))...)
 	}
 	if spec.Replicas < 0 {
@@ -50,6 +53,63 @@ func ValidateDeploymentConfigSpec(spec deployapi.DeploymentConfigSpec) field.Err
 	return allErrs
 }
 
+func getContainerImageNames(template *kapi.PodTemplateSpec) []string {
+	originalContainerImageNames := make([]string, len(template.Spec.Containers))
+	for i := range template.Spec.Containers {
+		originalContainerImageNames[i] = template.Spec.Containers[i].Image
+	}
+	return originalContainerImageNames
+}
+
+func setContainerImageNames(template *kapi.PodTemplateSpec, originalNames []string) {
+	for i := range template.Spec.Containers {
+		template.Spec.Containers[i].Image = originalNames[i]
+	}
+}
+
+func handleEmptyImageReferences(template *kapi.PodTemplateSpec, triggers []deployapi.DeploymentTriggerPolicy) {
+	// if we have both an ICT defined and an empty Template->PodSpec->Container->Image field, we are going
+	// to modify this method's local copy (a pointer was NOT used for the parameter) by setting the field to a non-empty value to
+	// work around the k8s validation as our ICT will supply the image field value
+	containerEmptyImageInICT := make(map[string]bool)
+	for _, container := range template.Spec.Containers {
+		if len(container.Image) == 0 {
+			containerEmptyImageInICT[container.Name] = false
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(containerEmptyImageInICT) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+
+	needToChangeImageField := false
+	for _, trigger := range triggers {
+		// note, the validateTrigger call above will add an error if ImageChangeParams is nil, but
+		// we can still fall down this path so account for it being nil
+		if trigger.Type != deployapi.DeploymentTriggerOnImageChange || trigger.ImageChangeParams == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		for _, container := range trigger.ImageChangeParams.ContainerNames {
+			if _, ok := containerEmptyImageInICT[container]; ok {
+				needToChangeImageField = true
+				containerEmptyImageInICT[container] = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if needToChangeImageField {
+		for i, container := range template.Spec.Containers {
+			// only update containers listed in the ict
+			match, ok := containerEmptyImageInICT[container.Name]
+			if match && ok {
+				template.Spec.Containers[i].Image = "unset"
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
 func ValidateDeploymentConfigStatus(status deployapi.DeploymentConfigStatus) field.ErrorList {
 	allErrs := field.ErrorList{}
 	statusPath := field.NewPath("status")
diff --git a/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation_test.go
index cc4adc280d8f..4037c5d92b3d 100644
--- a/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/deploy/api/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -79,12 +79,50 @@ func TestValidateDeploymentConfigOK(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestValidateDeploymentConfigICTMissingImage(t *testing.T) {
+	dc := &api.DeploymentConfig{
+		ObjectMeta: kapi.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", Namespace: "bar"},
+		Spec: api.DeploymentConfigSpec{
+			Replicas: 1,
+			Triggers: []api.DeploymentTriggerPolicy{test.OkImageChangeTrigger()},
+			Selector: test.OkSelector(),
+			Strategy: test.OkStrategy(),
+			Template: test.OkPodTemplateMissingImage("container1"),
+		},
+	}
+	errs := ValidateDeploymentConfig(dc)
+
+	if len(errs) > 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Unexpected non-empty error list: %+v", errs)
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range dc.Spec.Template.Spec.Containers {
+		if c.Image == "unset" {
+			t.Errorf("%s image field still has validation fake out value of %s", c.Name, c.Image)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestValidateDeploymentConfigMissingFields(t *testing.T) {
 	errorCases := map[string]struct {
 		DeploymentConfig api.DeploymentConfig
 		ErrorType        field.ErrorType
 		Field            string
 	}{
+		"empty container field": {
+			api.DeploymentConfig{
+				ObjectMeta: kapi.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", Namespace: "bar"},
+				Spec: api.DeploymentConfigSpec{
+					Replicas: 1,
+					Triggers: []api.DeploymentTriggerPolicy{test.OkConfigChangeTrigger()},
+					Selector: test.OkSelector(),
+					Strategy: test.OkStrategy(),
+					Template: test.OkPodTemplateMissingImage("container1"),
+				},
+			},
+			field.ErrorTypeRequired,
+			"spec.template.spec.containers[0].image",
+		},
 		"missing name": {
 			api.DeploymentConfig{
 				ObjectMeta: kapi.ObjectMeta{Name: "", Namespace: "bar"},