What am I doing wrong with my 50mm on my Nikon D7000?

[Dominantly]

Nevermind - a different thread right??

In the original post. Do they not show up?

They show up just fine.

As for one of your earlier questions- " But when I put it on A (aperture priority) and keep it open wide like 1.4-2.. I cannot seem to make enough adjustments to make the exposure even CLOSE to decent. They're usually very blown out"

When you shoot with such a wide aperture in the brighter part of the day, even with your lowest ISO setting, and your fastest shutter speed, you may still be letting in too much light and thus causing your shots to be overexposed. When you toast the exposure like that, your camera is trying to judge the scene and apply a white balance, but has trouble because the scene is all jacked up.
Here is a diagram that shows the relation between the f/number and the size of the aperture.
How to fix this? Well an Neutral Density filter is a good place to start if you must shoot at f/1.4, or you could just stop down/ wait for better light.

 

[SCraig]

When you are shooting in A mode, everything but the shutter speed becomes automatic, so you must select WHITE BALANCE MANUALLY!!!! Set your white balance to Automatic, or for the proper setting. The other thing is, don't shoot that 1.4 wide open when you have 2 people in the portrait, the depth of field is so shallow that you will only get one person in focus. For that picture i would of gone 2.8-4, you will also find that at 2.8 its going to be super sharp.

Um, that's not correct. When shooting in "A" (Aperture Priority) mode the shutter speed is the ONLY thing that is adjusted automatically. Aperture is set manually (hence the name Aperture Priority). Nikon cameras won't change the ISO in Aperture or Shutter priority UNLESS Auto ISO is enabled (I don't know about Canon but the OP stated she was using a Nikon). And, if white balance is set to automatic it will not change that setting.

 

[antawnmason]

That was a good take indeed.

 

[MrSleepin]

i have been using auto wb with my d7000, and so far it has been very accurate!

 

[aprilski]

I want to shoot off auto so bad!! I want the control, but it's like wanting to drive a bulldozer after only reading the manual. Even experimenting hasn't gotten me there yet. But I'm trying!

 

[jessicabiel]

I have a D200 and a D7000. The D200 triggers the SB600 in Commander Mode without any issues. The D7000 on the other hand will not trigger the SB600 with absolutely identical settings in Commander Mode to the D200's. Am I missing some secret/hidden setting? All channels/groups are identical.

 

[chuasam]

Bring it back to the store where you bought it and see if any one there can help you sort out the flash control

 

[MrSleepin]

I want to shoot off auto so bad!! I want the control, but it's like wanting to drive a bulldozer after only reading the manual. Even experimenting hasn't gotten me there yet. But I'm trying!

if the auto wb gets it right, might as well use it.

my d80 was awful with the auto wb accuracy... so i got very good at choosing/setting the right wb, but with the d7000, it is usually dead on.

 

[photo_joe]

Yeah continued practice will definitely help. You will get used to what does what and how to quickly change settings. I know when I went from the D60 to the D7000 it was an adjustment for sure. I would also suggest shooting in RAW so when you get weird things happening or you forget to change a setting you can go back and do it in post processing. RAW will also allow you to tweak a lot more then if shooting in JPEG. If you had shoot the purple people in RAW a quick adjustment to the WB would have been able to fix the problem.

With the 50mm for outdoor shooting I find it hard to drop the aperture down to 1.8 or in your case 1.4. Like everyone else said bump it up some unless you are shooting a single subject that you want to focus on.

 

[Annamas]

Disregard. Jumped the gun a little bit

 

[jake337]

I want to shoot off auto so bad!! I want the control, but it's like wanting to drive a bulldozer after only reading the manual. Even experimenting hasn't gotten me there yet. But I'm trying!

How are you metering? Spot, matrix, center weighted?