My family, which includes about 5 devices, all have the same Apple ID. When I try to acces my iCloud photos on a laptop I can only see the photos from one device? How do i switch to another device so I am able to see photos stored on my phone only?
Hello, the iCloud storage is per Apple ID, not per device. So despite your family having their own device, you are sharing an Apple ID, and thus sharing the iCloud storage. It is likely that the first person to set this up is the one who's photos are being saved to the iCloud.
You can try to establish which family member's photos that you are seeing. It is important to note, that Apple recommend in the Apple Support Centre to Avoid sharing an Apple ID
If you share the same Apple ID with a family member for iTunes & App Store purchases, certain services will treat you as the same person.
To see which Apple ID your family member is using to share, tap Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing, then tap their name. If you're using iOS 10.2 or earlier, tap Settings > iCloud > Family. Make sure that no one else is using your Apple ID to share content.
I recommend that you create your own Apple ID (which is easy to do) so that you can have your own iCloud storage to yourself.