Wide angle of a venomous reptile

I took this shot of a Gila monster on the last day of the workshop in Arizona. I used a 16-35mm to purposely distort the reptile for dramatic effect. I like the look of a foreground that is disproportionately large compared to the background. The lens was about 8 inches from the subject. Being this close meant that even at f/22, the landscape in the background wasn't sharp. It was 'almost' sharp. Therefore, I took two pictures -- one of the Gila monster and one of the background -- and then assembled them together in Photoshop. In my opinion, no part of a landscape should be out of focus. There is no point is photographing blurred landscapes. Nature is full of exquisite detail, and that's why we love photographing it. My settings were 1/100, f/22, and 640 ISO. I hand held this shot as I lay on the ground.