TEM images of strained crystals, such as quantum wells and quantum dots, often exhibit symmetries, the source of which is not always clear. To understand these symmetries we distinguish between symmetries that occur from the imaging process itself and symmetries of the inclusion that might affect the image. For the imaging process we prove mathematically that the intensities are invariant under specific transformations. A combination of these invariances with specific properties of the strain profile can then explain symmetries observed in TEM images.