need help with these photos

what am I doing wrong that my skies come out gray-blown out instead of blue. is it my metering mode? shutter/aperture combo? i can't figure out why i cannot take a photo in raw without having to fix it in post... does every raw photo need help?

the first 3 are what i am talking about with the sky, the last one i fixed in aperture 3

It comes down to the amount of light in the sky vs. the amount of light reflecting off the trees etc. - depending on the time of day you're shooting you may have to make the choice to expose for the ground or the sky. If the sky is too bright and you expose for it the ground will be too dark and the reverse applies... as you've discovered.

Graduated neutral density filters or HDR are common solutions to this problem. Or just wait until early morning or evening

photoPanda wrote in post #10142007
It comes down to the amount of light in the sky vs. the amount of light reflecting off the trees etc. - depending on the time of day you're shooting you may have to make the choice to expose for the ground or the sky. If the sky is too bright and you expose for it the ground will be too dark and the reverse applies... as you've discovered.

Graduated neutral density filters or HDR are common solutions to this problem. Or just wait until early morning or evening

What he said and invest in a circular polarising filter it will help you get a deeper blue (saturate) the skies. Oh, and it also helps with how much reflection occurs on the water.

Cameras only have so much dynamic range....