It's easy to be armchair critic with hindsight. To be honest I will make the same mistakes if I'm just a tourist and casual photograher.
Let's do some analyses on what are the causes and reasons.Is there something wrong with camera? NO... Is photographer lacking in skills? NO...well..
It's just awareness of what a camera is designed to do.A digital camera is a powerful tool and with everything automatic I don't blame user for thinking it is very smart and can read the mind of the photographer on what he thinks is right or asthetic/beautiful. By default the camera is set to take photos in a NATURAL rendering that means accurate colours and lighting intensity.Which means that in shady or cloudy overcast sky the photo will turn out quite dull or lacking in contrast.It's particularly good when scene is bright and sunny as in 1st. photo. I personally prefer natural or accurate colour.So if you are just a casual photographer you might set the camera to take VIVID photo setting where colours are more saturated and contrasty in jpeg. Exposure compensation has to be made for acceptable results.
Autofocus is another thing most people are not aware of...in the olympus it's using contrast detection.This means camera will consider a point/area in focus if it has the highest contrast.Normally a bright spot opposite a darker area.Depending on what you want to be in focus the selection of focus point or many points, example single center spot or larger area with many points.
I think a larger area was selected in 1st. photo and probably why the right hand side of photo is in focus and sharp.Note the details on lower and upper roof.This is because the highest contrast is in this part of the photo.Bright sunlit roof and black (dark) cloth banner below the roof.
Unfortunately using a prime lens did not help as the visual interests are at both sides of the frame and being shot at F3.8 is not the sharpest for this lens like F5.6 in 2nd. photo.So know at what F stop a lens is sharp
for best results.Also being at the sides I can see CA (chromatic aberations)
or purple/red fringing at the edges, the parts where I have arrowed in red of the 2 ladies.You can only see it from the full sized image.This also make image appear not as sharp.
1st. phot
riginal
Now for the 2nd. photo...
The camera actually rendered it accurately but of course it is not visually eye catching or appealing as the human eye will concentrate on bright areas first which is the sky but it is also overcast and dull.
It is better to expose correctly as you get the best resolution and details.
Overexpose and you can't recover details and when underexpose no details are recorded.So it's a compromise and editing is last resort or can make a well exposed photo look better.If you shoot in RAW also know it will not look sharp in the raw software.It's just the reality and also know only do sharpening at the LAST stage after other adjustments.
I have taken the liberty to edit the 2nd. photo for illustration to improve it. Do know that I'm using an old version of Lightroom (version2) as it is good enough for this purpose. As always editing is a compromise as increasing brighness and contrast will lose some details as shown in closeup photos
visually.Overall it is acceptable although there is colour skewing but because of the colour wheel theory humans can accept the variations for example green foliage of plants and trees from green yellow to green blue.
Also note the highlights in the water is overblown but the details at the ground of the trees and granite slope show more detail.The sky is also blown
almost white, no detail. Everything is a compromise..which photo would you prefer original or edited? Of course you can do much more sophisticated editing with Photoshop using layers and masking but I'm not skilled in that! So in the end knowing what to do with camera controls makes a big difference.
Hyperfocal distance... I'm a bit anal about this..also lazy and I trust the camera and lens..haha.Oh...reviewing photo with magnification on LCD helps at that moment..once in a lifetime opportunity that is.
Please understand editing is not a cure all, correct exposure is many times, easier and less work.
2nd.. photo original
After edit.
Loss of details...when edited.
Before
after