CC needed - fall foliage, etc

I am new and my camera is new...let me know what you think so far..

PS - I do not have photoshop or know how to use it yet. I did however use another program to play with color temperature, tint and saturation

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#1 fails because the eye is drawn to the two brightest leaves - and they're totally blown out.

#2 fails because the foliage is supposedly as important as the gate, but the foliage is totally out of focus.

#3 is too busy with the upper row of cut off birds, and the plumage on the two birds that are obviously the primary subject(s) is blown out.

I suggest using the Highlight Alert when shooting to make sure that the highlights are not burned out, while you are still on location and can re-shoot.

The composition had great possibilites in all three shots but couldn't be realized because of easily avoided problems. Using a tripod was probably needed in order to get the necessary depth of field for the gate scene, but that was no problem since it's a static shot. In #1, once you get a chance to look at the image it is obvious that it would be better to get the right hand bright leaf either into the picture or out of it.

[QUOTE=Robert_Lay;6612​278]#1 fails because the eye is drawn to the two brightest leaves - and they're totally blown out.

#3 is too busy with the upper row of cut off birds, and the plumage on the two birds that are obviously the primary subject(s) is blown out.
quote]

How do I avoid this blown out problem? It is the aperature. I am new and still learning so need some more help! Thx

We're talking about over-exposure. Whenever it is mentioned that highlights are blown out or burned out, it means that the highlight areas have been over-exposed.

Overexposure is best detected immediately after the shot is made by reviewing the image in the camera using the LCD screen. It is also advisable to check the Highlight Alert feature in the Histogram - it blinks over any portion of the image that is clipping due to over-exposure.

Overexposure, or any exposure, is a function of 3 things - ISO setting, shutter speed and Aperture - not just any one of those things alone.

Once overexposure has been detected, it can be corrected by re-shooting with a smaller aperture, or a shorter exposure time or a lower ISO setting. Your preferred method of correcting can be any number of different approaches, but it is all simpler when settings are made in Manual.