Is street photography not real photography if using a telephoto?

You cannot give me constructive criticism!

I found two of these Tripods and my knowledge is limited to having a mic stand with a 5/8 diameter thread for mounting and having used 1/4 diameter thread for mounting a camera. What are these mounting systems for on these Tripods? Lights? Backdrops? There's a hook in the bottom of the center pipe as well

How do I take better pictures of myself. I found out that this is a bit of a skill.

I've noticed alot of people spending months to years focusing on this and getting better pictures for instagram ect. When you see them in person they just seem average at the most. (Some look nothing like these pictures in person)

I would like to learn how to take good images like pic related and get a good collection of pictures.

I always noticed I like the image I see in mirrors whether its gym or similar. When I take photo's (iphone 12 selfie camera) I get depressed and look like shit.

I've always seemed to get a positive reaction in person and people think I'm good looking (get mired, get complimented ect ect)

I take selfies with my iphone 12 and I always look like shit. I also never have put in effort into photography so I might be missing some stuff. All I know is when I take selfie pictures 1 out of 50 are good and the rest are pretty bad.

Is this because I'm ugly or am I retarded at photography?

I've always thought that men taking photo's all the time is gay but I gotto get with the times. I would like to take pictures like the image I've posted.

Is the mirror more accurate then a camera selfie. (I know its not because I keep seeing really fat gross girls and their social media makes them look sporty and nice and they're like the type of women you hide from your friends, like 130kg + and they don't look anything like their pictures.)

Just saying how do I learn the arts of photography? Is this the right place to ask?

How did Spike Lee manage to get an almost medium-format look to the movie Malcolm X despite it being shot on 35mm film?

There is this thing that happens in photography, (particularly in porn) where the magic veil of the medium is pierced and I realize that what I'm actually looking at is; a man paid a sex workers to take photos of her in a cheap hotel.

Why though? Why does the illusion hold sometimes but not others? I have the vague sense that it has something to do with the depth of field, but that's not all of it. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly causes it, but I've definitely experienced it quite a few times looking at photos. Any thoughts?

I really want to know because it is currently the major fear holding me back from doing shoots with women. I don't want this weird uncanny effect showing up

(censored because /p/ is a christian photography board)

What makes this legendary photo by Charles O'Rear so good? For all the zoomers out there, this photo was the default background for Windows XP. I wonder how much Microsoft paid O'Rear for this photo.

Cameras, dummy batteries, and 18650 cells

I have a few DSLR cameras that have piss poor batteries, and I want to use external power sources.
Popular option seems to be to use a dummy battery with 5v to 7.4v usb DC converter, and get the power from power bank. However, I read from some discussion that the noise from the converters can eventually damage the camera, and that you would be better using 18650 cells directly with the dummy battery.

How would I do this in practice? Just plug them straight in? What about voltage drop when it gets discharged? How does the camera know the battery level, and prevent over discharge? One of the cameras is eos m50 that uses lp-e12 batteries. What solutions do you have to power your cameras for longer periods of time?

Pic is from google, not my project