We consider transmitting images in a multihop wireless network with the minimal total power consumption while satisfying an end-to-end image quality constraint. Contrary to popular belief, we show that maximum compression before transmission does not always provide minimal energy consumption, especially in the case of dense sensor networks with complex signal processing algorithms. We formulate the minimal energy transmission problem as an optimization problem and present a heuristic algorithm for it. The proposed algorithm selects the optimal image compression parameters to minimize total energy dissipation given the network conditions and image quality constraints. Simulation results show up to 80% reduction in the total power consumption achieved by using the proposed adaptive algorithm compared to nonadaptive algorithms.