Primates’ social interactions are grounded in temporal and spatial relationships, with physical proximity commonly used to assess affiliation, dominance, and tolerance. Yet proximity is often treated as a static, categorical measure rather than a dynamic, continuous process. Here, we combine computer vision and environmental markers to precisely quantify short-range social distances in two groups of Japanese macaques housed in large outdoor enclosures. Our social tolerance test results show that, when entering a food-baited circle, macaques positioned themselves at greater-than-chance distances from conspecifics, particularly to dominants. Furthermore, lower-ranking individuals tended to follow more indirect paths before approaching the food resource, suggesting they weigh social risks alongside physical positioning. By treating social proximity as a dynamic process, our study provides new insights into how primates navigate social and physical environments. This illustrates the potential of our method for more nuanced measures of group organization, tolerance, and decision-making.