I was concerned the ground, being dusty and rocky, wouldn't bounce enough fill since the suns are throwing light directly into the camera lens and probably overpowering any fill it provided. But then I thought, it's a composition, wouldn't I want multiple exposures to correct this in post? And you're right, ultimately it's art, so I can bend the rules as far as I want.
To create a better sense of depth in the image I increased the size of the sandtrooper. I also defocused him for the same reason as you posted. The ground was also shaded in or highlighted to match the light falling on the uneven surface. The suns were overexposed and more was red added so the scene would appear to be dusk/sunset. Finally I cropped the image in tighter to remove distractions and focus the scene on the Tuskens. I've spent more hours on this than I wanted but I do like the dramatic and edgy direction that this image has taken.