David, that's funny you ask b/c I brought my Canon PowerShot along to snap some stills of exactly what you're asking for - distance from lens to subject - but I tucked it into a pocket of the camera bag and couldn't find it. With the wide angle lens I could get super close to the foreground object, anywhere between 6 inches and a foot. With some of the shots I was trying to show a few planes of focus, foreground, middle, background...
I do enjoy framing a shot. I'm no DP, but I've had to make due over the years. I'm glad you like the look. I'll be shooting some tests with an actor soon and will post results if they're worth showing.