From the elastic scattering quantum chemistry technique, it is shown that the images of the MoS 2 surface obtained with an STM depend on the distance between the tip apex and the surface. At large distances, the tip apex and the Mo d-bands are coupled only through the sulphur surface layer. This leads to image the sulphur sites only. At small distances (<4 ), there is a superposition between this through bond tunnelling and the direct tip apex-Mo d-bands tunnelling. This superposition is destructive and the contrast is inverted; however, the two images remain very similar. which may lead to a difficult experimental interpretation of the STM images when the tip apex-to-surface distance is not well controlled.