I had a slightly similar situation the other day - and I could not as far away from the subject as I would have liked, because of sloping ground - but I do have a 10m tripod which would have helped! (I do not always have it in my gadget bag - in fact I have to use a trailer to move it as I do not a a vehicle large enough!Unfortunately, while it's difficult to tell, the ground slopes quite a ways upward toward the trees. As such, to have gained a higher perspective, it would have required much more than extending my tripod's legs. . . it would have required a ladder. Stepping back would have only further obfuscated the interesting rocks in the background, as I would have continued to descend. So, while I agree with you about the "fore/center/background" divisions, it simply was not completely possible for this image (without a ladder).
Thanks!