DOF for landscapes

I wanted come back to this thread with another part to all this I have noticed. Often with a landscape shot the subject will be placed very close to my wideangle lens. Sometimes said object has quite a large depth to it front to back and it's clear from trial and error / using dof preview that f/8 simply does not render the object sharp enough and fall off is evident in the dof before I reach the end of the object. So, in these situations I find I actually require f/16 to get the object - say it was a rock, in focus! What I have noticed with this technique compared to what I have mentioned, is that this renders a pretty damn decent shot in terms of sharpness, even at 100% it's not so bad. Obviously with this technique fall off in dof is very fast after the subject of the photograph falls off into the distance. But I find as long as the background is blurry but recognizable it feels right to my eyes that the distance isn't as clear.

In contrast to shooting at f/16 with a wideangle, focusing a 1/3 in but not on a specific subject, the whole photograph has softness. The foregrounds look terrible especially if you have stuff right up near the front of the lens. Focus stacking is a maybe for me - static scenes only. Try it with waves and moving trees in wind!