In this work, we present a stress functions approach to include image effects in continuum crystal plasticity arising from the long-range elastic interactions (LRI) between the GND density and free surfaces. The resulting length-scale dependent internal stresses augment those produced by the GND density variation. The formulation is applied to the case of a long, thin specimen subjected to uniform curvature. The analysis shows that under nominally uniform GND density distribution, internal stresses arise from two sources: (1) GND-GND LRI arising from the finite spatial extent of the uniform GND density field and (2) the LRI between the GND density and free surfaces appearing as image fields. A comparison with experimental results suggests that the length-scale for internal stresses, described as a correlation length-scale, should increase with decreasing specimen thickness. This observation is rationalized by associating the internal length-scale with the average slip-plane spacing, which may increase with decreasing specimen size due to paucity of dislocation sources. Finally, we also discuss the length-scale dependent image stress in terms of the Peach-Koehler force density proposed by Gurtin (2002). © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.