There are two main sets of problems, small scale and large scale. Small scale problems are image issues that are only particularly noticeable when viewing an image magnified, while large scale problems are bigger can can be seen when viewing an image whole and entire.
Common small scale problems include misfocus, camera shake, and diffraction softening.
The focus point on the above photo appears to be right in front of the camera. While a huge depth of field due to a tight aperture helps with making the whole scene fairly sharp, that's usually not the best way of going about it thanks to diffraction softening. Typically you'll want to focus on the most important, most eye-catching object in the scene, which here I would guess is the front cow or somewhere in the middle of the group of cows.
The amount of diffraction blurring on the sensor is the same on all cameras and all lenses at the same f/stop. However, this size of this blur on the sensor will take up a larger percentage of the image width on smaller sensors; so you can get away with larger f/stop values on bigger sensors than smaller, and the largest acceptable f/stop is directly proportional to the sensor width.
Using f/11 on full frame is often acceptable, and as Micro 4/3rds is half the width of full frame, half of f/11 or approximately f/5.6 is the largest acceptable f/stop on Micro 4/3rds by the same standard. Back in the old days, Ansel Adams and his friends used f/64, but they used huge large format cameras, and they got roughly the same depth of field as f/4.5 on your camera.
As others mentioned multiple times, with Micro 4/3rds cameras, you probably won't want to stop down below about f/5.6, though sharpening can be used judiciously to crispen detail, if the photo is otherwise good, and does not have other defects such as camera shake.
It's hard to tell where the focus point is on the above photo, but there is so much camera shake here that it's hard to distinguish the camera shake from misfocus and diffraction softening. The obvious subject to focus on in this photo is the building. and because there is nothing of interest close to the camera, a much wider aperture like f/4 or f/5.6 would work well, and the background will appear sharp as well.
In the above photo it is again difficult to discern where the focus point may be, but it does appear to be unreasonably close. This image also has diffraction softening and perhaps some camera shake.
Look up "depth of field" for more details on this important photography topic. Here is a rather complicated article, but it does cover everything important in great detail:
en.wikipedia.org
As a general rule of thumb, the farther out your subject and focus point is from your camera, the deeper the depth of field you'll get any any given f/stop. If you focus on infinity, then all distant objects will be sharp, and the question becomes how much foreground detail do you want sharp? Is the foreground detail as important as the background? But the biggest rule of thumb is to focus on the most important object in the scene in most cases.
Improving sharpness via good focus, avoiding diffraction, and avoiding camera shake will indeed help you get closer to your visual impression of the scene, but only up to a point. If you get all of this right, then you can add some sharpening as well, either in-camera or on the computer during editing.
It may be best to look for large scale corrections, those which effect the entire image.
One technical trick used to bring out texture is an editing control called "Texture" or "Details". Some cameras have this control built-in if you shoot JPEG. This is similar to sharpening, but it enhances details on a larger scale. It looks great when used lightly, and turns the image into an ugly, dirty mess if used liberally.
Increasing Contrast and Saturation slightly can bring out details in the mid-tones. In editing apps, the curve tool can be used to increase contrast in specific range of tones. But this is also best used lightly; the colors and contrast in your photos are already beyond what's natural.
It might be better to choose a different time of day for shooting. A low sun angle can bring out more textures on the ground; but note that in the first photo, the sun is indeed fairly low, but the angle the ground makes is towards the sun, which reduces this effect. You'll get a maximal effect if the sun is raking sharply along the slopes of the hills.
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A website about the Art and Science of Photography
therefractedlight.blogspot.com
