Put yourself in the picture with Clipr for Windows Phone 8

Clipr is a relatively new photography app for Windows Phone 8 that lets you clip parts of one picture and paste it into another picture. Clipr also has tools to selectively blur portions of photos, merge two photos into one and create Start Screen background wallpapers.
After using Clipr over the past few days, while the app could use a little fine-tuning, the app comes across as a creative photography tool for our Windows Phones well worth a try.
Clipr Layout
The main page for Clipr offers options to clip a picture, merge photos, create a covertile (Start Screen background) and to view the gallery of your clips.
Up under the three-dot menu you will find options to remove the ads ($.99 in-app purchase), rate/review the app, view the about screen, watch the tutorial and send feedback to the developer.
Clipr does not have an internal camera app, which is no big loss. Whichever tool you choose to use, you will be working with existing images in your Windows Phone Pictures Hub and/or a small image library within Clipr.
The only issue I could find with Clipr's layout is the lack of a home button to send you back to the main menu. Once you save an image or exit the app while in the editor, you'll need to hit the Back button to return to the main menu page. A home button would save a few steps in getting back to the menu.
Clip Tool
While Clipr has three editing tools, the key feature is the Clip Tool, which allows you to select a portion of one image and insert it into another. You also have the ability to selectively blur an image and apply a wide assortment of effects filters to the foreground and/or background of the image.
You will first need to select your image to clip from your Pictures Hub. Clipr will display your most recently added images to the Pictures Hub or you can tap the "+" sign to access the full Hub.
Once an image is selected you will see the image center screen with a button just below to toggle between the foreground and background. You start by shading in or highlighting the area you want clipped (the foreground) by single finger touch.
Images can be pinched to zoom to make a more precise shading and using two fingers you can move the image around. If you tap to move the picture with one finger, you will end up highlighting the picture. Just remember, one finger to highlight and two fingers to move.
Once you are done shading/highlighting the foreground, tap the toggle switch to better identify the background. Areas you want clipped will be highlighted in white with the areas you don't want clipped will be darkened.
It may take several attempts to get things just right but it does help to take advantage of the zoom feature to get the clip just right.
At the bottom of the Clip Tool screen you will find four control buttons that include an undo button, a reset button (clears all your markings), a clip button and a blur button. When you have everything just right, you can either clip the image to add it to another or tap the blur button to blur the background.
In clipping the image you will have the option to choose the new background image from your Pictures Hub or the Clipr Gallery. You can position/re-size your clip on the new background by touch and apply effects filters to either.
In blurring the background, you can adjust how much blur is applied and apply effects filters to either. The effects filters (and there's a bunch of them) include black & white, lomo, cartoon, color filters, antique, solarize, colorize and more.
When saving a clipped image, you will have the option to save the image as currently viewed (1:1 ratio) or as full view (the background image's original resolution).
Additional Tools
Merge Tool: If you run across a landscape view that you just cannot fit completely in one frame or need to insert one image into another, the merge too could come in handy. You select the front and back image to merge from either your Windows Phone Pictures Hub or the Clipr Gallery.
Think of it as the Clip Tool but merging two entire photos and not just a clip.
Images can be pinched to zoom or repositioned by touch. The Merge tool also has the ability to apply the effects filters to either photo. Merged images can be saved at current view or at full image size.
CoverTile: The CoverTile is very similar to the Clip tool but without the clip feature. You essentially merge two images, apply any effects filters and save the image as lockscreen/Start Screen background image.
The only downside to this tool is that the background image is presented to fill a 1:1 frame and your placement of the foreground images may be slightly off. You'll need to zoom out on the background image to get the full view of the wallpaper.
Overall Impression
The more I used Clipr, the more the photography app grew on me. The app does take a bit of patience in clipping an image with accuracy. You will need to take advantage of the zoom feature to better highlight the areas you want clipped with precision. Even then you may end up with some jagged lines.
I would have liked to have seen the ability to regulate that size or width of your highlights. A broader based mark would do nicely on wide open spaces of the background but you may need a narrower mark for the nooks and crannies of the foreground image.
I also wouldn't mind seeing CoverTile background images loaded with the full image in view. This would help avoid making a placement error with your foreground image when you are in a hurry. Lastly, an opacity gauge and a crop tool would also be nice with the Merge feature. The opacity adjustment would help lessen the intensity of the foreground image and the crop tool will help you tweak the final image just right.
All in all, while Clipr could use a little fine-tuning, as is the Windows Phone 8 photography app is a nice addition to the Windows Phone darkroom. With a little patience and effort, you can create some rather unique, inventive and fun images.
Again, Clipr is a free ad-supported app and you can remove the ads through a $.99 in-app purchase.
- Clipr - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link
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George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.
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COOL.
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Photoshop?
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From the Nokia Imaging SDK samples. But one of the better implementations in the store.
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Looks god however before installing one question; why does the app need access to Phone Dialer? App requires owner identity video and still capture music library photos library media playback data services phone dialer movement and directional sensor web browser component HD720P (720x1280) WVGA (480x800) WXGA (768x1280)
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Good question
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All company staff have been asked to check what they are installing and what it has access to on their phones and accounts, would love to install this app however would need a justified reason on why it would need access to the dialler as well as almost every other area.
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I don't know about you but I fully expect my merged photographs to call me occasionally.
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Sorry few capabilities were pre included while I was developing the app. Excepting phone dialler rest of all are needed for the app functionality. Even though I'll check out each and every capability again and update the app .
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Thank you for the reply, is good to hear directly from Dev's Sadly we can't install on our devices as is treated as suspicious for such access however when that's removed please reply and will have few other colleagues install it if we like it. Also noticed that you have similar apps, at a glance they look similar, please if you have few minutes confirm what is for what or is one offering all of others in one pack? (e.g. BokehPro and CoverTile)
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All those apps are merged into Clipr now, I've to unpublish them from the market, facing few problems in doing so. Microsoft Support is helping me to do that..Hope they will do it soon :) Can you mail your any contact info to clipr@outlook.com? So that I can notify you about the update. Thanks :)
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Thank you, will do, best of luck
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I picture myself together with WhatsApp... I picture myself happy.
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Strange thing all the apps I download don't tell me before hand what system services they will access! They used to but I think they stopped notifying me when I installed 8.1. Can anyone else clarify this! Or have I done something to my store settings
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Are you on WP8.1? In the new store those info are in the Details section (2 swaps to the right).
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Cheers mate never realized that
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This app is amazing! I hope they make it a universal app that can be used with touch or a mouse on Windows 8!
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Thanks for the article Goerge Ponder :) - As per your suggestion i'll include opacity and crop tool in the next update. - Can you please attach this Hands-On video to the article https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYGtfs28BOc and can you mention a Tip? "To get best results you'll need a strong distinctive background color like blue, green and red that is evenly lit." -In the Next update I'm adding Exclusive photoshop features like foreground border, outline, drop shadows. Guyz if you need anything else sound off in this comment section
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is it possible if you could bring this app to Windows 8 tablets? please & thank you
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Definitely! Right now I'm on that project :)
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Firstly I thought 'hey you can do it also with fantasia painter. Then downloaded the app. Is designed for that one thing so it have to do it better... And actually is! But in this one thing only. So you have to reconsider if you need a separate app for just cropping something. I have now like 20 photo apps so one more to add won't be much and I would live with such a sacrifice of free memory on my 920 :)
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This app would be pretty neat on a 8.1 tablet. I'll give it a shot on my phone too.
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@George: Why there's no QR code provided here?