Can anyone give me any tips for taking pictures on sunny days please? Even if its just a general setting for Manual that would help

I tend to do centre weighted metering and aim at the sky if possible to get the sky expsed right, am I wrong there because I have to bring the light up in PS after and that sort of defeats the object in my eyes.
Any help or pointers would be helpful thanks
I use a Nikon D90 and aperture mode most of the time.