Plugin your images

Let AbstractUIPlugin handle sharing images with your plugins. It has its own ImageRegistry that handles storing, disposing, and retrieving of images.

A simple override of initializeImageRegistry(ImageRegistry) and you are on your way to Image sharing bliss.

public class Activator extends AbstractUIPlugin {
    public static final String ID = "rcp.eclipse";
    public static final String MY_IMAGE_ID = 
                                  "image.myimage";

    @Override
    protected void initializeImageRegistry(ImageRegistry registry) {
        super.initializeImageRegistry(registry);
        Bundle bundle = Platform.getBundle(ID);

        ImageDescriptor myImage = ImageDescriptor.createFromURL(
              FileLocator.find(bundle,
                               new Path("icons/myImage..gif"),
                                        null));
        registry.put(MY_IMAGE_ID, myImage);
    }
}

Put your image into workspace/rcp.eclipse/icons/myImage.gif and then access it in your code.

AbstractUIPlugin plugin = Activator.getDefault();
ImageRegistry imageRegistry = plugin.getImageRegistry();
Image myImage = imageRegistry.get(Activator.MY_IMAGE_ID);