Ross Halfin took the band photograph used for Metallica’s 1991 album Metallica, widely known as The Black Album.
Halfin was a prominent rock photographer whose work had already become closely associated with heavy-metal artists. His photograph appears on the album package alongside the stark black cover design, reinforcing the record’s deliberately restrained visual identity.
The cover itself was designed by Metallica with Peter Mensch and Q Prime’s creative team, and it features a coiled snake and the band’s name in dark, minimal styling. Because the cover is so visually simple, the distinction between the photographer, the cover designer, and the source of the snake imagery can be easy to miss.
Halfin continued documenting Metallica across later tours and releases. He is also known for extensive photography of artists including Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Slayer. The photograph credit therefore belongs to Halfin, not to a music-video director or to the album’s producer Bob Rock.