[iMore Question]

Yes, this is a request for the software programmers at Apple. iPhotos had a professional-looking black background--white does not even look professional! There was a reason old photograph albums, where you pasted photographs with translucent corners, were always in black, as they show photographs to advantage, whether they are in black, sepia, or color. Disappointingly, a number of features have been lost, disappointingly, including adjusting colors and shades, merged groups of photographs, not to mention descriptions. I can do without the identification of faces, but please include the option at least of having a black background and bring back the previously edited iPhoto features with their descriptions. Years of editing work on a database of 10,000+ photos have been lost with this so-called improved update.

[Tartarus]

Thanks for your interesting venting in this matter.
I hope for you someday somebody from Apple from the respective department will see this post and either do something with it or choose to ignore it. That's up to them.

Additionally, I'd recommend you to visit https://www.apple.com/feedback/#mn_p and leave your feedback there. You'll have more chance with their feedback service.