Disappointing Photos with Nikon D3200

[Tim Tucker 2]

I know this is a little old here and I'm late responding.

Traveller makes some good points here and are worth exploring. Although lenses and camera sensors record an absolute and measurable sharpness this does not always transfer to the image. Sharpness in an image is to a great extent an impression you get when viewing. If we look at the horse photo you will see that when you look at it it is the parts that you expect to look in focus that you see first, around the eye and the buckle. These look sharp so you form the opinion that the image is sharp because you really only glance at images and make assumptions, whereas the actual image has little sharpness apart from this one area. The appearance of sharpness is also largely due to the contrast that's there because the light was behind the camera. Sharpness is linked to contrast in images.
With the photo of the kids you have a lot conspiring against you:

1. Shooting into the light, this means your subject is in the shadow which reduces contrast and the appearance of sharpness.
2. Shooting with a high ISO, this also increases noise which decreases the appearance of sharpness.
3. A low shutter speed which gives a slight blur, though barely perceptible.
4. Slightly missed focus point which reduces the sharpness of the eyes.

What happens in this image is you look at the subject and see that the eyes appear a little soft so you form an opinion of the image. When you glance you do not see the sharpness where you expect it to be, you expect eyes to look sharp as they do in real life. (When glancing if the eyes are soft then you assume the image is soft, if the eyes are sharply focussed the assumption is that the image is sharp. It does not mater that the background is slightly soft as long as the image is sharp where you expect it to be your impression of the whole is one of sharpness).
The shot is a difficult on as the DR is quite large. Look again at the phone shot and see how much of the clouds are blown out, have no detail. Then look again at the corresponding camera shot that has maintained detail and colour in both the highlight clouds and the distant hills. Your phone could not compete with your camera in the kids shot by a big margin!

With just a few simple slider movements in a RAW editor like Camera RAW with LightRoom, and a resize, (literally two minutes), see if your impression of your camera changes: