  We propose a novel technique to estimate the masses of super massive black
holes (SMBHs) residing at the centres of massive galaxies in the nearby
Universe using simple photometry. Aperture photometry using SEXTRACTOR is
employed to determine the central intensity ratio (CIR) at the optical centre
of the galaxy image for a sample of 49 nearby galaxies with SMBH mass
estimations. We find that the CIR of ellipticals and classical bulges is
strongly correlated with SMBH masses whereas pseudo bulges and ongoing mergers
show significant scatter. Also, the CIR of low luminosity AGNs in the sample
shows significant connection with the 5 GHz nuclear radio emission suggesting a
stronger link between the former and the SMBH evolution in these galaxies. In
addition, it is seen that various structural and dynamical properties of the
SMBH host galaxies are correlated with the CIR making the latter an important
parameter in galaxy evolution studies. Finally, we propose the CIR to be an
efficient and simple tool not only to distinguish classical bulges from pseudo
bulges but also to estimate the mass of the central SMBH.
