diff --git a/docarray/array/mixins/plot.py b/docarray/array/mixins/plot.py
index 4acc47f0c5a..c9d776cdb5d 100644
--- a/docarray/array/mixins/plot.py
+++ b/docarray/array/mixins/plot.py
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ def plot_embeddings(
         start_server: bool = True,
         host: str = '127.0.0.1',
         port: Optional[int] = None,
+        image_source: str = 'tensor',
     ) -> str:
         """Interactively visualize :attr:`.embeddings` using the Embedding Projector.
 
@@ -121,6 +122,7 @@ def plot_embeddings(
         :param min_image_size: only used when `image_sprites=True`. the minimum size of the image
         :param channel_axis: only used when `image_sprites=True`. the axis id of the color channel, ``-1`` indicates the color channel info at the last axis
         :param start_server: if set, start a HTTP server and open the frontend directly. Otherwise, you need to rely on ``return`` path and serve by yourself.
+        :param image_source: specify where the image comes from, can be ``uri`` or ``tensor``. empty tensor will fallback to uri
         :return: the path to the embeddings visualization info.
         """
         from ...helper import random_port, __resources_path__
@@ -154,6 +156,7 @@ def plot_embeddings(
                 canvas_size=canvas_size,
                 min_size=min_image_size,
                 channel_axis=channel_axis,
+                image_source=image_source,
             )
 
         self.save_embeddings_csv(os.path.join(path, emb_fn), delimiter='\t')
@@ -287,6 +290,7 @@ def plot_image_sprites(
         canvas_size: int = 512,
         min_size: int = 16,
         channel_axis: int = -1,
+        image_source: str = 'tensor',
     ) -> None:
         """Generate a sprite image for all image tensors in this DocumentArray-like object.
 
@@ -297,6 +301,7 @@ def plot_image_sprites(
         :param canvas_size: the size of the canvas
         :param min_size: the minimum size of the image
         :param channel_axis: the axis id of the color channel, ``-1`` indicates the color channel info at the last axis
+        :param image_source: specify where the image comes from, can be ``uri`` or ``tensor``. empty tensor will fallback to uri
         """
         if not self:
             raise ValueError(f'{self!r} is empty')
@@ -316,26 +321,36 @@ def plot_image_sprites(
             [img_size * img_per_row, img_size * img_per_row, 3], dtype='uint8'
         )
         img_id = 0
-        for d in self:
-            _d = copy.deepcopy(d)
-            if _d.content_type != 'tensor':
-                _d.load_uri_to_image_tensor()
-                channel_axis = -1
-
-            _d.set_image_tensor_channel_axis(channel_axis, -1).set_image_tensor_shape(
-                shape=(img_size, img_size)
-            )
-
-            row_id = floor(img_id / img_per_row)
-            col_id = img_id % img_per_row
-            sprite_img[
-                (row_id * img_size) : ((row_id + 1) * img_size),
-                (col_id * img_size) : ((col_id + 1) * img_size),
-            ] = _d.tensor
-
-            img_id += 1
-            if img_id >= max_num_img:
-                break
+        try:
+            for d in self:
+                _d = copy.deepcopy(d)
+
+                if image_source == 'uri' or (
+                    image_source == 'tensor' and _d.content_type != 'tensor'
+                ):
+                    _d.load_uri_to_image_tensor()
+                    channel_axis = -1
+                elif image_source not in ('uri', 'tensor'):
+                    raise ValueError(f'image_source can be only `uri` or `tensor`')
+
+                _d.set_image_tensor_channel_axis(
+                    channel_axis, -1
+                ).set_image_tensor_shape(shape=(img_size, img_size))
+
+                row_id = floor(img_id / img_per_row)
+                col_id = img_id % img_per_row
+                sprite_img[
+                    (row_id * img_size) : ((row_id + 1) * img_size),
+                    (col_id * img_size) : ((col_id + 1) * img_size),
+                ] = _d.tensor
+
+                img_id += 1
+                if img_id >= max_num_img:
+                    break
+        except Exception as ex:
+            raise ValueError(
+                'Bad image tensor. Try different `image_source` or `channel_axis`'
+            ) from ex
 
         from PIL import Image
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_plot.py b/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_plot.py
index 1ec701244b8..cdc3853ba4e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_plot.py
+++ b/tests/unit/array/mixins/test_plot.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from docarray import DocumentArray, Document
 
 
-def test_sprite_image_generator(pytestconfig, tmpdir):
+def test_sprite_fail_tensor_success_uri(pytestconfig, tmpdir):
     da = DocumentArray.from_files(
         [
             f'{pytestconfig.rootdir}/**/*.png',
@@ -16,7 +16,26 @@ def test_sprite_image_generator(pytestconfig, tmpdir):
             f'{pytestconfig.rootdir}/**/*.jpeg',
         ]
     )
-    da.plot_image_sprites(tmpdir / 'sprint_da.png')
+    da.apply(
+        lambda d: d.load_uri_to_image_tensor().set_image_tensor_channel_axis(-1, 0)
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        da.plot_image_sprites()
+    da.plot_image_sprites(tmpdir / 'sprint_da.png', image_source='uri')
+    assert os.path.exists(tmpdir / 'sprint_da.png')
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('image_source', ['tensor', 'uri'])
+def test_sprite_image_generator(pytestconfig, tmpdir, image_source):
+    da = DocumentArray.from_files(
+        [
+            f'{pytestconfig.rootdir}/**/*.png',
+            f'{pytestconfig.rootdir}/**/*.jpg',
+            f'{pytestconfig.rootdir}/**/*.jpeg',
+        ]
+    )
+    da.apply(lambda d: d.load_uri_to_image_tensor())
+    da.plot_image_sprites(tmpdir / 'sprint_da.png', image_source=image_source)
     assert os.path.exists(tmpdir / 'sprint_da.png')