diff --git a/libimage/pull.go b/libimage/pull.go
index e872b1b80..3db1b2992 100644
--- a/libimage/pull.go
+++ b/libimage/pull.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) Pull(ctx context.Context, name string, pullPolicy config.PullP
 		// off and entirely ignored.  The digest is the sole source of truth.
 		normalizedName, _, normalizeError := normalizeTaggedDigestedString(name)
 		if normalizeError != nil {
-			return nil, normalizeError
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf(`parsing reference %q: %w`, name, normalizeError)
 		}
 		name = normalizedName
 
diff --git a/libimage/runtime.go b/libimage/runtime.go
index 632f0fccf..1baf41d5d 100644
--- a/libimage/runtime.go
+++ b/libimage/runtime.go
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) LookupImage(name string, options *LookupImageOptions) (*Image,
 	// off and entirely ignored.  The digest is the sole source of truth.
 	normalizedName, possiblyUnqualifiedNamedReference, err := normalizeTaggedDigestedString(name)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, "", err
+		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf(`parsing reference %q: %w`, name, err)
 	}
 	name = normalizedName