The best cinematographers

1. Gregg Toland

Cinematographer | Citizen Kane

Born in Illinois in 1904, the only child of Jennie and Frank Toland, Gregg and his mother moved to California several years after his parents divorced in 1910. Through Jennie's work as a housekeeper for several people in the movie business, Gregg may had gotten a $12-a-week job at age 15 as an ...

2. John Alton

Camera_department | An American in Paris

Starting out in 1924 as a lab technician at MGM, John Alton left there for Paramount to become a cameraman. He traveled to France and then to South America, where he wrote, photographed and directed several Spanish-language films. Returning to Hollywood in 1937, he soon achieved a reputation as one...

3. Giuseppe Rotunno

Cinematographer | All That Jazz

Giuseppe 'Peppino' Rotunno entered the film industry as a still photographer at Cinecitta but lost his job due to his anti-fascist views. Conscripted and sent to Greece in 1942, he then served as a newsreel cameraman with the Italian army film unit. A year later, he was captured during the German ...

4. Vittorio Storaro

Cinematographer | Apocalypse Now

Vittorio Storaro, the award-winning cinematographer who won Oscars for "Apocalypse Now (1979)", "Reds (1981)" and "The Last Emperor (1987)". He was born on June 24, 1940 in Rome, where his father was a projectionist at the Lux Film Studio. At the age of 11, he began studying photography at a ...

5. Roger Deakins

Cinematographer | Blade Runner 2049

Roger Deakins is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve.

He is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers.

Deakins' first feature film in America as cinematographer was Mountains of the Moon (...

6. Christopher Doyle

Cinematographer | Paranoid Park

Christopher Doyle was born on May 2, 1952 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Paranoid Park (2007), Hero (2002) and 2046 (2004).

7. Emmanuel Lubezki

Cinematographer | Children of Men

Lubezki began his career in Mexican film and television productions in the late 1980s. His first international production was the 1993 independent film Twenty Bucks (1993), which followed the journey of a single twenty-dollar bill.

Lubezki is a frequent collaborator with fellow Mexican filmmaker ...

8. James Wong Howe

Cinematographer | The Thin Man

Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where ...

9. Russell Metty

Cinematographer | Spartacus

Cinematographer Russell Metty, a superb craftsman who worked with such top directors as John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles, was born in Los Angeles on September 20, 1906. Entering the movie industry as a lab assistant, he apprenticed as an assistant cameraman and ...

10. Néstor Almendros

Cinematographer | Days of Heaven

One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba ...

11. Raoul Coutard

Director | Hoa-Binh

Raoul Coutard was born on September 16, 1924 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Hoa Binh (1970), Alphaville (1965) and Z (1969). He died on November 8, 2016 in Labenne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

12. Gordon Willis

Cinematographer | Zelig

Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer. He's best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, as well asWoody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979).

His work on the first two Godfather films turned out to be groundbreaking in its use of low-light photography and ...

13. John Alcott

Cinematographer | Barry Lyndon

John Alcott, the Oscar-winning cinematographer best known for his collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, was born in 1931, in Isleworth, England, the son of movie executive Arthur Alcott, who would become the production controller at Gainsborough Studios during the 1940s.

Alcott began his film...

14. Caroline Champetier

Cinematographer | Holy Motors

Caroline Champetier was born on July 16, 1954 in Paris, France. She is a cinematographer and actress, known for Holy Motors (2012), Annette (2021) and Marée haute (1999).

15. William H. Daniels

Cinematographer | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Oscar-winning director of photography William Daniels was a master of black-and-white cinematographer most famous for the 21 films he shot that starred the immortal Greta Garbo between 1926 and 1939. Among the Gabro classics he lensed were The Torrent (1924), Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927)...

16. Nicholas Musuraca

Cinematographer | Out of the Past

Italian-born Nicholas Musuraca's first job in the film business was as a chauffeur to early pioneering producer/director J. Stuart Blackton. Having a knack for photography, he worked behind the cameras in a variety of jobs before finally becoming a cinematographer (or, as they were called in those ...

17. Conrad L. Hall

Cinematographer | Road to Perdition

Born in Tahiti, the son of writer James Norman Hall, author of "Mutiny on the Bounty," Conrad Hall studied filmmaking at USC. He and two classmates formed a production company and sold a project to a local television station. Hall's company branched out into making industrial films and TV ...

18. Freddie Francis

Cinematographer | The Straight Story

During his last years at school he spent most of his time writing a thesis on 'the future of film' On leaving school he joined Gaumont British Studios at Lime Grove as an apprentice to a stills photographer for a year. He claimed this taught him more about the art of photography than any other form...

19. Tonino Delli Colli

Cinematographer | Der Name der Rose

Tonino Delli Colli was born on November 20, 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He was married to Alexandra Delli Colli. He died on August 16, 2005 in Rome, Lazio, ...

20. Sven Nykvist

Cinematographer | The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and...

21. Edward Lachman

Cinematographer | Far from Heaven

Edward Lachman was born on March 31, 1948 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Far from Heaven (2002), Carol (2015) and Ken Park (2002).

22. Jack Asher

Cinematographer | Dracula

Jack Asher was born on March 29, 1916 in London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and producer, known for Horror of Dracula (1958), The Crimson Blade (1963) and The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). He died in April 1991 in London, England, UK.

23. Luis Cuadrado

Cinematographer | Hay que matar a B.

Luis Cuadrado was born in 1934 in Toro, Zamora, Castilla y León, Spain. He was a cinematographer and assistant director, known for Hay que matar a B. (1974), El amor del capitán Brando (1974) and La regenta (1974). He died on January 18, 1980 in Madrid, Spain.

24. Henri Decaë

Cinematographer | The Boys from Brazil

Although Henri Decaë gained fame as a cinematographer, he actually entered the film industry as an editor and soundman. Serving as a cameraman in the French army during WW II, upon his release he began making documentaries and directing and photographing industrial and commercial films, then in ...

25. Vilmos Zsigmond

Cinematographer | Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Along with László Kovács, a fellow student who fled Hungary in 1956, Zsigmond rose to prominence in the 1970s. He is known for his use of natural light and vivid use of color on features such as The Long Goodbye (1973) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

26. Agnès Godard

Cinematographer | Beau travail

Agnès Godard was born on May 29, 1951 in Dun-sur-Auron, Cher, France. She is a cinematographer and production manager, known for Beau Travail (1999), Home (2008) and Wings of Desire (1987).

27. Robert Richardson

Cinematographer | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Robert Richardson has won three Academy Awards and earned seven Academy Award nominations for his cinematography. His work on director Oliver Stone's JFK earned him his first Oscar. His second and third came with The Aviator and Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese. These two films also garnered him ...

28. Harris Savides

Cinematographer | Elephant

Harris Savides was born on September 28, 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Elephant (2003), Zodiac (2007) and Birth (2004). He was married to Medine Chenet. He died on October 9, 2012 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

29. Winton C. Hoch

Cinematographer | The Quiet Man

Winton C. Hoch was born on July 31, 1905 in Storm Lake, Iowa, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Quiet Man (1952), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) and The Searchers (1956). He died on March 20, 1979 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

30. Yûharu Atsuta

Cinematographer | Sanma no aji

Yûharu Atsuta was born on January 1, 1905 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Late Autumn (1960) and Early Summer (1951). He died on December 7, 1992 in Japan.

31. Henri Alekan

Cinematographer | Der Himmel über Berlin

Henri Alekan was born on February 10, 1909 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Wings of Desire (1987), Roman Holiday (1953) and Beauty and the Beast (1946). He was married to Nadia Starcevic. He died on June 15, 2001 in Auxerre, Yonne, France.

32. László Kovács

Cinematographer | Easy Rider

László Kovács was born on May 14, 1933 in Cece, Hungary. He is known for his work on Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Ghostbusters (1984) and Copycat (1995). He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 2002. He was married to Audrey. He died on July 22, 2007 in Beverly Hills, ...

33. Robby Müller

Cinematographer | Breaking the Waves

Robby Müller was born on April 4, 1940 in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Breaking the Waves (1996), Paris, Texas (1984) and Repo Man (1984). He died on July 3, 2018 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

34. Walter Lassally

Cinematographer | Alexis Zorbas

Walter Lassally was born on December 18, 1926 in Berlin, Germany. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Before Midnight (2013) and Heat and Dust (1983). He was married to Nadia Lassali. He died on October 23, 2017 in Crete, Greece.

35. Janusz Kaminski

Cinematographer | War Horse

Janusz Kaminski is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer on his movies since 1993. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

His ...

36. Bruno Delbonnel

Cinematographer | The Tragedy of Macbeth

Bruno Delbonnel was born in 1957 in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), A Very Long Engagement (2004) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).

37. Gabriel Figueroa

Cinematographer | La perla

Gabriel Figueroa was born on April 24, 1907 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a cinematographer, known for The Pearl (1947), The Young and the Damned (1950) and Maria Candelaria (1944). He died on April 27, 1997 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.

38. Robert Burks

Cinematographer | Vertigo

The favorite cinematographer of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warner Bros. when he was 19 years old. He climbed his way up from camera operator to assistant camera man and eventually took over the Special Photographic Effects unit at Warners on Stage 5 in 1944. He became an ...

39. G.W. Bitzer

Cinematographer | The Birth of a Nation

G.W. Bitzer was born on April 21, 1872 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA. He was a cinematographer and director, known for The Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919) and Logging in Maine (1906). He was married to Ethel Boddy. He died on April 29, 1944 in ...

40. Karl Freund

Cinematographer | Metropolis

Karl Freund, an innovative director of photography responsible for development of the three-camera system used to shoot television situation comedies, was born on January 16, 1890, in the Bohemian city of Koeniginhof, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now known as Dvur Kralove in the Czech...

41. Carlo Di Palma

Cinematographer | Mighty Aphrodite

Carlo Di Palma was born on April 17, 1925 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Blow-Up (1966) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). He was married to Adriana Chiesa Di Palma. He died on July 9, 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

42. Stanley Cortez

Cinematographer | The Magnificent Ambersons

Stanley Cortez was born Samuel Krantz in New York City, New York, the son of Sarah (Lefkowitz) and Moses/Morris Krantz, Austrian Jewish immigrants. His famous actor brother, born Jacob Krantz, changed his name to Ricardo Cortez in order to acquire a more suitably romantic Hollywood image. Stanley ...

43. Natasha Braier

Cinematographer | The Neon Demon

Cinematographer Natasha Braier was born December 11th, 1974 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where both her parents practiced psychiatry and where she did her first studies including, as a child, dancing.Her family moved to Europe when she was 18, and where she lived in both Spain and England.She ...

44. Michael Chapman

Cinematographer | Raging Bull

Michael Chapman is an American cinematographer. He is best known for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Fugitive (1993), and Primal Fear (1996).

Chapman began his film career as a camera operator before making the leap to cinematographer. As a cinematographer, he became famous for his two ...