Entertainment · All
Academy Award for Best Cinematography Rankings
Visual showcase ranking every recipient of the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Compare the lighting masters, camera innovators, and directors of photography behind cinema's most visually stunning sequences.
World Ranking
▲ Top 5
#1
Blade Runner 2049 (Deakins, 2017)
Roger Deakins finally won after fourteen nominations, crafting iconic orange-tinted dust bowls, rain-swept neon, and cavernous brutalist interiors.
+120
#2
Lawrence of Arabia (Young, 1962 - Color)
Freddie Young's 70mm masterpiece immortalized desert scale, famous for the iconic mirage arrival of Sherif Ali emerging from the heat shimmer.
+97
#3
Dune (Fraser, 2021)
Greig Fraser transferred digital footage to 35mm film and back to digital, capturing vast Arrakis desert dunes with tactile, gritty scale.
+74
#4
Apocalypse Now (Storaro, 1979)
Vittorio Storaro mastered the visual conflict between natural jungle foliage and artificial orange napalm flares along the Nung River.
+39
#5
1917 (Deakins, 2019)
Roger Deakins choreographed an astonishing continuous-take journey across WWI no-man's-land and nighttime flare-lit French ruins.
+35
▼ Bottom 5
#1
The Towering Inferno (Koenekamp/Biroc, 1974)
Fred J. Koenekamp and Joseph Biroc coordinated dangerous multi-camera setups inside practical blazing skyscraper soundstage sets.
-134
#2
Three Coins in the Fountain (Krasner, 1954 - Color)
Milton R. Krasner showcased early CinemaScope widescreen potential with sweeping travelogue vistas of Rome's monuments and fountains.
-114
#3
Around the World in 80 Days (Lindon, 1956 - Color)
Lionel Lindon photographed this expansive 70mm Todd-AO production across dozens of international locations and continent-spanning travelogues.
-94
#4
With Byrd at the South Pole (Rucker/Van der Veer, 1929)
Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van der Veer operated modified cameras in sub-zero polar blizzards to document Admiral Richard E. Byrd's historic South Pole expedition.
-70
#5
Wilson (Shamroy, 1944 - Color)
Leon Shamroy captured patriotic political convention halls and white house corridors with precise multi-camera Technicolor lighting.
-35
You should check out
Cinematography: Theory and Practice by Blain Brown
View on Amazon
The Filmmaker's Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition by Gustavo Mercado
View on Amazon
Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona
View on Amazon
Oscars.org
Official Academy Awards Database: Cinematography Archives
American Cinematographer
American Society of Cinematographers Historical Archives
Prices and availability shown are from Amazon and may change. T5B5 participates in the Amazon Associates Programme and may earn a commission on qualifying purchases.
Similar Lists
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Rankings
Entertainment
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Rankings
Entertainment
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Rankings
Entertainment
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film Rankings
Entertainment
Academy Award for Best Original Score Rankings
Entertainment
All Items (125)
Blade Runner 2049 (Deakins, 2017)+120
Lawrence of Arabia (Young, 1962 - Color)+97
Dune (Fraser, 2021)+74
Apocalypse Now (Storaro, 1979)+39
1917 (Deakins, 2019)+35
There Will Be Blood (Elswit, 2007)+24
Inception (Pfister, 2010)+15
Barry Lyndon (Alcott, 1975)+9
Gone with the Wind (Haller/Rennahan, 1939 - Color)+8
The Third Man (Krasker, 1950 - Black-and-White)+8
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Lesnie, 2001)+8
Ben-Hur (Surtees, 1959 - Color)+5
Avatar (Fiore, 2009)+5
Days of Heaven (Almendros, 1978)+2
Doctor Zhivago (Young, 1965 - Color)+1
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (Rosher/Struss, 1927)—
White Shadows in the South Seas (De Vinna, 1928)—
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (Crosby, 1930)—
Shanghai Express (Garmes, 1931)—
A Farewell to Arms (Lang, 1932)—
Cleopatra (Milner, 1934)—
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mohr, 1935)—
Anthony Adverse (Gaudio, 1936)—
The Good Earth (Freund, 1937)—
Wuthering Heights (Toland, 1939 - Black-and-White)—
Rebecca (Barnes, 1940 - Black-and-White)—
The Thief of Bagdad (Périnal, 1940 - Color)—
How Green Was My Valley (Miller, 1941 - Black-and-White)—
Blood and Sand (Palmer/Rennahan, 1941 - Color)—
Mrs. Miniver (Ruttenberg, 1942 - Black-and-White)—
The Black Swan (Shamroy, 1942 - Color)—
The Song of Bernadette (Miller, 1943 - Black-and-White)—
Phantom of the Opera (Mohr/Greene, 1943 - Color)—
Laura (LaShelle, 1944 - Black-and-White)—
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Stradling, 1945 - Black-and-White)—
Leave Her to Heaven (Shamroy, 1945 - Color)—
Anna and the King of Siam (Miller, 1946 - Black-and-White)—
The Yearling (Rosher/Smith/Arling, 1946 - Color)—
Great Expectations (Green, 1947 - Black-and-White)—
Black Narcissus (Cardiff, 1947 - Color)—
The Naked City (Daniels, 1948 - Black-and-White)—
Joan of Arc (Valentine/Skall/Hoch, 1948 - Color)—
Battleground (Vogel, 1949 - Black-and-White)—
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Hoch, 1949 - Color)—
King Solomon's Mines (Surtees, 1950 - Color)—
A Place in the Sun (Mellor, 1951 - Black-and-White)—
An American in Paris (Gilks/Alton, 1951 - Color)—
The Bad and the Beautiful (Surtees, 1952 - Black-and-White)—
The Quiet Man (Hoch/Stout, 1952 - Color)—
From Here to Eternity (Guffey, 1953 - Black-and-White)—
Shane (Griggs, 1953 - Color)—
On the Waterfront (Kaufman, 1954 - Black-and-White)—
The Rose Tattoo (Howe, 1955 - Black-and-White)—
To Catch a Thief (Burks, 1955 - Color)—
Somebody Up There Likes Me (Ruttenberg, 1956 - Black-and-White)—
The Bridge on the River Kwai (Hildyard, 1957)—
The Defiant Ones (Leavitt, 1958 - Black-and-White)—
Gigi (Ruttenberg, 1958 - Color)—
The Diary of Anne Frank (Mellor, 1959 - Black-and-White)—
Sons and Lovers (Francis, 1960 - Black-and-White)—
Spartacus (Metty, 1960 - Color)—
The Hustler (Schüfftan, 1961 - Black-and-White)—
West Side Story (Fapp, 1961 - Color)—
The Longest Day (Bourgoin/Wottitz, 1962 - Black-and-White)—
Hud (Howe, 1963 - Black-and-White)—
Cleopatra (Shamroy, 1963 - Color)—
Zorba the Greek (Lassally, 1964 - Black-and-White)—
My Fair Lady (Stradling, 1964 - Color)—
Ship of Fools (Laszlo, 1965 - Black-and-White)—
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Wexler, 1966 - Black-and-White)—
A Man for All Seasons (Moore, 1966 - Color)—
Bonnie and Clyde (Guffey, 1967)—
Romeo and Juliet (De Santis, 1968)—
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hall, 1969)—
Ryan's Daughter (Young, 1970)—
Fiddler on the Roof (Morris, 1971)—
Cabaret (Unsworth, 1972)—
Cries and Whispers (Nykvist, 1973)—
Bound for Glory (Wexler, 1976)—
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Zsigmond, 1977)—
Tess (Unsworth/Cloquet, 1980)—
Reds (Storaro, 1981)—
Gandhi (Williams/Taylor, 1982)—
Fanny and Alexander (Nykvist, 1983)—
The Killing Fields (Menges, 1984)—
Out of Africa (Watkin, 1985)—
The Mission (Menges, 1986)—
The Last Emperor (Storaro, 1987)—
Mississippi Burning (Biziou, 1988)—
Glory (Francis, 1989)—
Dances with Wolves (Semler, 1990)—
JFK (Richardson, 1991)—
A River Runs Through It (Rousselot, 1992)—
Schindler's List (Kamiński, 1993)—
Legends of the Fall (Toll, 1994)—
Braveheart (Toll, 1995)—
The English Patient (Seale, 1996)—
Titanic (Carpenter, 1997)—
Saving Private Ryan (Kamiński, 1998)—
American Beauty (Hall, 1999)—
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Pau, 2000)—
Road to Perdition (Hall, 2002)—
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Boyd, 2003)—
The Aviator (Richardson, 2004)—
Memoirs of a Geisha (Beebe, 2005)—
Pan's Labyrinth (Navarro, 2006)—
Slumdog Millionaire (Dod Mantle, 2008)—
Hugo (Richardson, 2011)—
Life of Pi (Miranda, 2012)—
Gravity (Lubezki, 2013)—
Birdman (Lubezki, 2014)—
The Revenant (Lubezki, 2015)—
La La Land (Sandgren, 2016)—
Roma (Cuarón, 2018)—
Mank (Messerschmidt, 2020)—
All Quiet on the Western Front (Friend, 2022)—
Oppenheimer (van Hoytema, 2023)—
The Brutalist (Crawley, 2024)—
Sinners (Durald Arkapaw, 2025)—
The Great Waltz (Ruttenberg, 1938)-3
Wilson (Shamroy, 1944 - Color)-35
With Byrd at the South Pole (Rucker/Van der Veer, 1929)-70
Around the World in 80 Days (Lindon, 1956 - Color)-94
Three Coins in the Fountain (Krasner, 1954 - Color)-114
The Towering Inferno (Koenekamp/Biroc, 1974)-134