Fixed Aperture, how I long for thee...

I learned that I desperately want a zoom lens with a fixed aperture.  I was photographing a friend's baby last week and WOW was I ever frustrated.  It is very difficult to photograph a 6 month old in manual when every time you zoom in or out your aperture changes affecting the other settings.  I did it, but it wasn't easy.  At least, he was on a plain background, so the DOF (depth of field) or lack thereof, didn't play as big of a role.  

After

Shot with Nikon D90

Edited in ACR/PSE 8

Before

• In Adobe Camera Raw I added fill light (9), increased the blacks (3), increased brightness (14), increased contrast (2), increased clarity (3), and vibrancy (2)
• Opened in PSE 8
• Duplicated background layer, applied high pass filter with a soft light blending mode (80% opacity)
• Hue/Saturation adjustment layer--increased yellow sat. (4) and red sat. (2).  From Ashley, I have learned that a photo typically needs the yellows decreased, but while playing around I realized the fruit and crackers popped more if I increased the yellows.  
• Levels adjustment layer--increased midtones (1.26) and blacks (23)
• applied white layer mask to levels adjustment layer and removed the effect from the food (brush at 80% opacity).  

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