...is there any way to change the distance of your character from the screen? I usually always use 3rd person view when travelling around skyrim on pc, yet on the ps3 the character is so zoomed in the 3rd person view is almost untolerable and basically forces me to play in 1st person only

Yes, there is. I know that with the Xbox controller you can click the right thumbstick and use the left thumbstick to "drag" the view out. I imagine it's the same with the PS3.

I'm like you and I much prefer a more "distant" view of my character, as opposed to staring at the back of their head