Rating: 
Summary: This is the Book I've Been Telling All My Friends to Buy
Review: Don't get fooled by the title -- or the cover. This book is for everyone who uses Photoshop -- not just those who photograph women.
Pictures of women are but a metaphor for all pictures. The techniques taught can be used on babies, seniors, landscapes, factories or cars. They work across the board.
I've got lots of Photoshop books. This has been the easiest to use and most practical.
The first 4 chapters -- on Workflow -- are worth the price of the book. With Kevin's help, I've developed an approach to archiving, proofing, and displaying my images. And, I've learned a way to create and use actions to do the heavy lifting.
This book makes clear the qualitative difference between 8 and 16 bit images. Run the exercise and you will see the advantages of 16 bit with your own eyes.
Color correction has become very easy. Kevin teaches a simple way to get dead on color. Now I understand the tremendous advantage one gets by using a Gretag/Macbeth or similar reference card. And, again, to make it easy, he shows how to use what we've learned to make and use actions and batches to take the tedium out of correcting all the pictures taken under the same light.
I shoot RAW. Kevin helped me master Adobe CS's RAW processor. But, more importantly, I've also learned how and when to simply make a .tif and do my corrections based on the reference shot. I find the latter to be more precise and accurate. What a time saver -- one step eliminated and the others run by actions.
Notice I've not said one word about photographing women? I haven't used it for that, yet. Maybe, I will -- but the book's value is not dependent on the subject matter, it is all about getting the most out of all your photographs whatever they might be.
Rating: 
Summary: Extracting workshops
Review: First of all, the book is great. However, the workshop exercises have to be downloaded from Kevins site. Even that wouldn't be so bad if they weren't compressed by some funky program called StuffIt. StuffIt has to be downloaded as well and installed on the PC. Every hear of ZIP!
Rating: 
Summary: visually appealing, but not the best tips
Review: I almost bought this book at a book store after flipping its pages. It has great formating - good combination of diagrams, colored pages and filled with beautiful pictures of women.
BUT, if you read in detail and try to follow its tips, you'll find it go through many laborious steps to do simple things. There's a section on archiving that barely talks about how to archive efficently. THere is also a section detailing how you can retouch photo of a bikini clad girl to look like barbie doll. I find the final picture appauling.
There are also sections on how to trim thighs, remove facial blemishes etc. However, there is another book I owned called "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" - by Katrin Eismann, that does a better job on retouching. I strongly recommend Katrin's book if you're a serious photographer. That book has a much wider range of tips and the steps are easier to follow.
Rating:
Summary: If your serious about photography you need this book!
Review: If you are a photographer thinking about going pro. do yourself a favor and buy this book. The chapters on workflow are worth the price of the book alone. Let's face it, you can have the most expensive equipment in the world but unless you have a very meticulous workflow your just another amateur. This book will show you step by step how a professional does his workflow. Not only will you learn a great workflow but you will learn how to be more efficient using actions that he helps you create. Time is money after all, and if your anything like me you will find that this book paid for itself in the first 30 minutes of reading.
If you own many of Scott Kelby's books as I do, your going to feel right at home with Kevin's book. It fills in the missing spaces that Scott's books leave out. This book "is" the missing link!
Rating:
Summary: A "must have" for anybody who's serious about photography
Review: If you think about it, "women" here are simply a paradigm of the most beautiful and the most demanding subjects. Perfection is required almost always when you're dealing with them - and that is what this book is all about. Perfect angle, perfect pose, perfect light, perfect gear - and a perfect post-processing technique to reach the desired goal - a perfect picture.
Book gives you a lot of intimate details about how things are done properly - and what to do if you encounter a sudden obstacle.
The only thing I must warn you about - it's not a "my first photography book" type. Consider it medium-to-advanced level. I read it after reading three other books by Scott Kelby (on PS CS) and that gave me an edge and ability to quickly grasp the subject. Otherwise I would probably got lost in its first chapter. The amount of - a very useful, don't get me wrong! - information would be simply overwhelming.
Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Best Book for Digital Photographers
Review: Like another reviewer here on Amazon, I found Kevin's book also "by chance." After perusing it I decided that it was worth the price. Was I ever wrong! This book is worth MORE than all 6 of the other books on Photoshop that I have purchased!! But this book goes further than just Photoshop techniques and tips that work very well on the supplied image. Kevin actually gives you a workflow and REASONS why you do certain things. His chapter "Illuminating Light: How Light Works in Photography" is very good in its discussion of light and how it relates to Photoshop, but Kevin begins at the beginning; he tells about using light in your capture of the image!
Buy the book for great instruction on Photoshop; READ the book to learn how to make better images BEFORE Photoshopizing them. Follow Kevin's tutelage and better images are assured!
Rating:
Summary: visually appealing, but not the best tips
Review: One first sight, this book is extremely appealing to me. Superb formating of diagrams and text, fully colored and filled with beautiful pictures of women. I almost buy it after browsing it. BUT, if you read in detail and try to follow its tips, you'll find it go through many laborious steps to do simple things. There's a section on archiving that barely talks about how to archive efficently. THere is also a section detailing how you can retouch photo of a bikini clad girl to look like barbie doll. I find the final picture appauling. There are also sections on how to trim thighs, remove facial blemishes etc. However, there is another book I owned called "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" - by Katrin Eismann, that does a better job on retouching. I strongly recommend this book if you're a serious photographer. There is a much wider range of tips and easy steps in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have Book for the Digital Portrait Photographer
Review: The book we have all been waiting for! I just happened on "The Art of Photographing Women" in a bookstore. I usually just flip though a book, but this one stopped me dead in my tracks. This book is a must have. Usually we pick up a book to just get a couple of tips out of it, but this one is fully loaded. What you get is a series of lessons, with practical reasoning for the actions on everything you will set out to do. Download the high quality images form Kevin's website and away you go, step by step, learning the solutions to our everyday problems in digital imaging, learning the right way. By the way the images Ames gives us to work on are a great experience them selves, they'll teach you how see, and the models are very nice looking besides. Kevin is a great photographer besides a great teacher. I saw Kevin at the PPofA Digital Conference in Biloxi MS a couple of years ago, this is one man that not only knows his stuff but can convey his thoughts in print. I cannot say enough for this one... You've got to pick up a copy for yourself, you won't be able to put it down... this is the best book I have started in years!
Rating:
Summary: Best Book for Photography and Retouching
Review: This book is invaluable and worth three times the price. The first three chapters alone are worth the price of this book. Pick this one up immediately.
Rating:
Summary: Real meat
Review: This is a book for people who want real meat in their photoshop books. Unlike most books which simply give cookbook type of instructions, this book actually leaves you feeling empowered. Reading this book allows one to cross the boundary from photoshop amateur to expert. You would not probably be looking at this book if you did not already know Katrin Eissman, Jim Devitale, Eddie Tapp and Jane Conner-Ziser. Mr. Ames belongs to this league of experts. A specific treatise on lighting alone made the price of purchase worth it already, and that only took 4 pages. Final advice, don't blink and just buy it.
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