Comment 12 for bug 381274

tutorial-tips.svg: Clipping or masking a bitmap

"By default, an imported bitmap (e.g. a photo) is an <image> element which is not editable by the Node tool. To work around this, convert the image into a rectangle with pattern fill by Object to Pattern (Alt+I). This will give you a rectangle filled with your bitmap. Now this object can be converted to path, node-edited, intersected with other shapes etc. In Inkscape Preferences (Misc tab), you can set the option of always importing bitmaps as pattern-filled rectangles. "

Release Notes 0.46: Other changes and improvements

"The option Import bitmap as <image> is removed; it was added several versions ago to allow optionally importing images as rectangles with image pattern, to make clipping the images easier. Now that you can easily use clipping paths, as well as convert any image to rectangle with pattern with Alt+I, this option is not really necessary and removed to reduce confusion. Bitmaps are always imported into SVG as an <image> element. "