  The Gunn g, r and i CCD images of a representative sample of 17 Brightest
Cluster Galaxies (BCM) have been analyzed in order to derive surface brightness
and color profiles, together with geometrical parameters like eccentricity and
position angle. The sample includes both X-ray and optically selected clusters,
ranging in redshift from z=0.049 to z=0.191. We find that BCMs are
substantially well described by de Vaucouleurs' law out to radii of $\sim
60-80$ kpc, and that color gradients are generally absent. Only in two cases we
find a surface brightness excess with respect to the $r^{1/4}$ law, which for
A150 is coupled with a change in the $g-r$ color. The rest frame colors of BCMs
do not show any intrinsic dispersion. By parametrizing the environment with the
local galaxy number density, we find that it is correlated with the BCM
extension, i.e. BCMs with larger effective radii are found in denser
environments.
