I found this photo on shorpy.com and am wondering what height the guy was.
Living Large: 1908 | Shorpy Old Photos | Framed Prints
Well he’s easily into the seven foot range. It’s the inches that will matter. I say seven foot two inches.
I don’t see much in the way of objective size clues. It the big guy truly big, or does he look that way because the other one is unusually small?
The fisheye perspective of the pic distorts his size somewhat. I’m going to say 6’8" to 6’10".
You might be able to do calculations starting with the height of the seat. You can infer just about everything else but the size of his femur from that, and if you assume a proportional femur …
Assuming the table is 29" tall, from his mid-abdomen to the top of his head is 29", from his heel to the top of his knee is about 28", and I would venture to guess that there’s another 26" from his knee to mid-abdomen, so…6’11".
Why doesn’t Big Guy seem to have a reflection in the mirror behind him, unlike his friend to the left?
You barely see the photographer either. The angle is such that the man blocks his reflection.
Way more than 26" from knee to waist – the femur is the longest bone in the body.
Because the guy’s head is between the camera and the reflection of his head in the mirror.
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it just looked weird to me because the other guy’s head is clearly visible in the mirror. But then, the angle is different for him.
Anyway, carry on, sorry for hijack. 
6’10"
I apologize in advance for getting all Socratic on your ass. It’s nothing personal, just a common form of ignorance I’d like to see fought. The kinds of measurements you’re making here aren’t justified.
When you measured the height of the table, where did you measure? from the side of the table to the floor? Where on the floor? From the base of the pedestal to the table top? Where on the table top?
How did you account for the difference in distance from the table to the camera and from the man’s abdomen to the camera and the camera-to-abdomen vs. camera-to-head.
How did you measure the distance of whatever you are looking at from the centre of the photo to account for radial displacement and relief displacement? How did you even find the centre? What is the focal length of the camera?
I apologize again for making an example of you over such an innocent comment but the practice of photogrammetrywithout a license (PDF) is all too common and always wrong.
Fine – so what’s your guess?
Pretty damn tall
Any measurements taken from the photo and referenced against background objects are going to be way off due to the foreshortened perspective of the photo. He’s big, but IMO he’s only modern football lineman big, he’s not circus big.
Based on his somewhat thickened features he also looks as though he might have a touch of acromegaly, but if so it’s not all that pronounced compared to other acromegalic giants.
Yeah but the top of his knee isn’t the top of the tibia, it’s the top of the femur sitting sideways on top of the tibia, plus the foot below it. The femur also doesn’t stand vertical inside the human body.
From the center of the single, central leg, on it’s left side to the center-top of the table. Because of perspective, the “halfway mark” will be slightly further back in the image than if you actually measure halfway along an edge.
His foot and knee are essentially even with the table’s leg. His torso will be slightly smaller, but on the other hand he’s slouching. I presumed these to even out. I estimated the length of his thigh by measuring my own leg from knee-top to floor and comparing that distance to myself from upper-knee to my abdomen.
For an innocent game on the internet where the true answer is no more than a carnival guess, I can’t say that worrying about it all that much is particularly worth it.
