CC on falls picture please!

Now I'm totally confused

Snapshots.

Your shutter is too fast - freezing the water instead of letting it show the typical motion blur with a longer shutter makes it not look very good.

Most of the frame is filled with the river, which is the most boring part of the whole scene. You should zoom in on the falls themselves. The issue is that I don't see much in the way of an interesting foreground so even then it's going to be a plain waterfall shot so then you should start asking yourself if it is even worth taking.

IVIax wrote in post #8451886
Maybe my 1/3rds are different then everyone elses, lol, but the last 3 pictures look like the horizon is in the top 1/3rd and the falls/water are in the bottom 2/3rds. The first one is close to center.

They all "appear" too close to the middle of the frame.

IVIax wrote in post #8451886
As for focal point, I also feel like the last 3 pictures have some sort of focal point in the foreground -- rocks at the base for pic 2, big rock on the left side for pic 3, and 3 rocks in the water for pic 4. I guess I'm doing it wrong??

Ok. They need to be bigger and closer in the frame so you can see the detail. Like at your feet closer. Think of it like this, when the rocks are at your feet and you look down you can see the detail right? When you then look up and see further in the scene, you don't necessarily see all the detail and more of a kind of vista. A different kind of interest.

So, have the objects close in the frame, very close to you and aim the lens down. It may feel unnatural in that you feel you are shooting the ground but if you then look up in the viewfinder, the horizon will be at the top of the frame.

IVIax wrote in post #8451886
DoF, that's what I was going for in pic 3 (maybe unsuccessfully?), I agree that the other 3 pics lack DoF.

Depth Of Field (which is front to back sharpness) is different to compositional depth. The items of interest in the foreground, middle ground and back ground "should" balance relatively.

Of course, what are rules but just a set of guides

Awesome, thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

I have some experimenting to do this weekend