Is there some etiquette to posting the "same" shot?

I've always wondered this, since a lot of times I go shooting with groups of people and we are all shooting the same subjects, I often times come away with nearly identical shots as someone else. I try my best to crop them a little different, but sometimes there's only one way to crop it to look good. That being said is there some sort of unspoken rule in photography if two people have nearly identical shots and someone else puts there photos out there in the public first?
I have quite a few photos sitting on my computer that I don't want to put online just because it looks just like someone else's photo even though I took it.

if there is no one is following it. go to flicker and search for something like the statue of liberty or hoover dam. you will see thousands of the same shots.

Probably no issue, there are hundreds of Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, etc that look exactly alike. How many landscape shots from the observation point at grand canyon can there be?

I agree, If you took the shot, did the editing, you are free to post as you see fit. Just because it looks like someone elses shot is irrelevant.

For many years there was a group of us off of POTN that would get together a couple of times a year for a shooting outing. There were usually 4 and sometimes 5 of us. We all posted similar shots and no feelings were hurt. You are bound to have similar shots when you have a group of photographers pointing their lenses at the same subject and as long as you are the photographer there is nothing (unwritten or otherwise) that prohibits you from posting. I understand that you see this as an ethics issue and the only time I take exception to this sort of thing is when one is shooting a commercial job (say wedding for instance) and you have taken the time to do an elaborate posing setup and then someone from the crowd comes and shoots over your shoulder. He is still the copyright holder of the shot but ethically should he take credit for the photo. This has been debated at length on pretty much every forum I have ever been on. No one owns a pose and I am sure that most wedding photographers have had this happen to them. I just let it slide unless they become a pest (which has happened). I think you are safe posting anything that you have shot. Whether you feel good about it is entirely up to you.

SVTmaniac wrote in post #15255055
I've always wondered this, since a lot of times I go shooting with groups of people and we are all shooting the same subjects, I often times come away with nearly identical shots as someone else. I try my best to crop them a little different, but sometimes there's only one way to crop it to look good. That being said is there some sort of unspoken rule in photography if two people have nearly identical shots and someone else puts there photos out there in the public first?
I have quite a few photos sitting on my computer that I don't want to put online just because it looks just like someone else's photo even though I took it.

this happens all the time and there is nothing unethical about taking the same pic of the same subject. I shoot with a photo group every month and people like to compare pics

Shoot Raw and invest some time in a creative edit. That will make it unique. There is a lot more that can be done with an image than merely cropping a jpg.

I remember reading years ago about Brett Weston shooting in the Big Sur area. Within minutes of his lifting his tripod out of the sand and moving along, some other photographer would come along and put their tripod in the very same impressions left behind, hoping to capture the same image.

To your original question, I don't think there's any real 'unspoken rules' involved. If you like the images, put them out there, they're yours.

I am lucky to live in a target rich state, and because of that I see the popular places on television, in calendars and printed up very nicely in coffee table books quite regularly.

I have stopped even setting up at the beach, the mountains are seldom anything but background and the classic shots of Portland, Multnomah falls, crown point, crater lake etc. are just not in my plans.

That said, if I did want to get the amazing, top selling, most published photo of any of the classic places, I might start by being more aware of weather trends and possibilities for GREAT light.

If you want shots taken "from the very divots of Westons tripod" that are better or at least not identical, the time spent cropping and burning and dodging and might be better spent driving back to the same place on a different day with different light.

just my 2 cents.

The only etiquette is not to shoot the same shot at the same angle or perspective... in the first place...