diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 5e60406e78..0be02bb82e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ jobs:
         pip3 install -r requirements-pubsub.txt
         pip3 install .
         pip3 install GDAL==`gdal-config --version`
+        pip3 install "pyproj<3.8"
     - name: setup test data ⚙️
       run: |
         pybabel compile -d locale -l es
diff --git a/pygeoapi/templates/collections/items/item.html b/pygeoapi/templates/collections/items/item.html
index 705f9057cc..e20f15814d 100644
--- a/pygeoapi/templates/collections/items/item.html
+++ b/pygeoapi/templates/collections/items/item.html
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 {# Optionally renders an img element, otherwise standard value or link rendering #}
 {% macro render_item_value(v, width) -%}
     {% set val = v | string | trim %}
-    {% if val|length and val.lower().endswith(('.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.gif', '.bmp')) %}
+    {% if (val|length and val.lower().startswith(('http://', 'https://')) and
+           val.lower().endswith(('.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.gif', '.bmp'))
+    ) %}
         {# Ends with image extension: render img element with link to image #}
         <a href="{{ val }}"><img src="{{ val }}" alt="{{ val.split('/') | last }}" width="{{ width }}"/></a>
     {% elif v is string or v is number %}