Read the manual - at least skim through it. Nothing will automatically keep
you out of trouble...not even Spel Chek.

 Only very cheap, limited cameras make an attempt to keep
photographers from getting into trouble, and they can't always
succeed.  Good cameras offer you the options necessary to get good
pictures when conditions are less than optimal.  No camera is
omniscient, it's up to the photographer to come to the camera's aid
when it's confused.

 Your camera has several metering modes.  Which one did you use?
Assuming that you know something about histograms, do the ones for
your overexposed buildings appear to show reasonable exposures or
not?  Lastly, make sure that you haven't accidentally set the camera
to use excessive exposure compensation.  If you have, then disabling
it would probably fix your building's walls, but then your other
shots might appear too dark, so either way, you have to figure out
how your camera is calculating its exposure.  Without checking, can
you state whether it's using spot metering, area or some kind of
matrix metering?   If it's using spot metering, perhaps it got the
reading off some very dark portion of the building, such as a black
door, etc.  If not using spot metering, did the scene include any
large areas that are darker than the building's walls, but which
don't appear as dark as they should be, such as a large green lawn,
or a black asphalt paved driveway or parking lot?

 Understand that errors of this type aren't unique to digital
cameras, and you could have gotten the same results with a 50 year
old film camera.  Most important is knowing (or learning) general
photographic principles.  If you already have some knowledge in this
area, then read your camera's manual to learn what kind of metering
options the S9000 has, and which would be more appropriately used in
conditions where lighting or the subject's coloring presents
difficulties.  Familiarizing yourself with histograms might help get
you up to speed (at which point you can start using them much more
sparingly), and I assume that the S9000 can show them before you
take the picture.  If, as with some cameras, it only shows the
histograms after taking pictures, it's still about as useful, but
slightly less convenient.  Some cameras have a special histogram
mode that also indicates extreme problem areas in the image, where
it's too dark for shadow detail or so bright that highlights are
blown.  Check the manual to see if the Fuji S9000 has this feature.

Well that depends on what you take pictures of...

Don't take pictures of bright walls!

But seriously, post your pictures someplace and perhaps we can advise.

Or show us your EXIF files.

JL

Jem. Use the average metering for bright buildings with high contrast
and shadow areas, or spot meter the area you want to bring out.
The s9x00 is more like a DSLr than a point and shoot in the way you use
it. You must spend time with the manual and learning basic photography
techniques. I find things I learned 50 years ago about photography are
just as relevant today as they were then.
Enjoy the camera, it is a joy to use.

Sel ........ :)

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/%7Eselorme/photos.html