I've seen a few youtube videos where people talk about this, and just wondering why you would do this...  If you are going to film something, say like a lighthouse, would you park at the lighthouse itself and takeoff from there, or park somewhere else close by, takeoff, and then fly to the lighthouse for your filming?
One reason I could see for doing this is that if someone at the lightouse sees the drone flying and wants to make it stop, they will not be able to locate the operator.  But I could also see it as a way to avoid curious people from interrupting your flight.

Is it a ethical practice to operate this way?  Technically you still might have LOS, but you not giving anyone the opportunity to ask you to stop flying the drone.

Here in NL we must remain line of sight. So I would have to be close to the lighthouse .
Also there are limits to what distance we are allowed to fly (not enforced yet, but 100m will be the max as far as I know)
But, I would try and park right on the edge of my limit and fly towards my subject.
Not to avoid people, but to avoid me being in the shot.

I agree with Montfrooij . The only reason I would park a distance away is to keep out of the shot .
I would also try  not to fly where I thought it might cause a problem or get me in trouble.

Agreed, I would just ask. Better to get a NO than a TICKET.

For your original question, I think you can go either way depending on the location and number of people around.  For staying out of your scenes, I did see another video where the pilot showed how he stays close to the subject, but remains outside the shot.  In one example, he simply stood close to a tree, in its shade.  in another, he stood on the side of a building he was shooting.  Another one, he flew over a short wall, but was crouched down behind it and out of view.  I usually try to stay out of whatever scenes I'm shooting, but there are cases where you might want to be in it.