diff --git a/src/firefly/java/edu/caltech/ipac/visualize/plot/plotdata/ImageStretch.java b/src/firefly/java/edu/caltech/ipac/visualize/plot/plotdata/ImageStretch.java
index c2ef6eed4b..6e875657a7 100644
--- a/src/firefly/java/edu/caltech/ipac/visualize/plot/plotdata/ImageStretch.java
+++ b/src/firefly/java/edu/caltech/ipac/visualize/plot/plotdata/ImageStretch.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 public class ImageStretch {
 
     private static boolean isHuePreserving(RangeValues rv) {
-        return rv.rgbPreserveHue();
+        return rv!=null ? rv.rgbPreserveHue() : false;
     }