Thank you for shredding some light (pun intended) on what the cinematographer’s job is. Many people, including me a few years ago, tend to comment on how beautiful one director’s image is. But the compliment should really be directed towards the cinematographer, as most directors (except a few UFOs) cannot light a scene the way a cinematographer does. And lighting is really 90% of the job, it’s what takes years and years to learn (the technical stuff can be learned by anybody really quickly).

I’d like to add that on most of the film set I’ve worked on, the cinematographer was often the most knowledgeable person on set. They literally have to know everything to be good at their job. This is why many DPs transition to producing later on their career, when they get too old to shoot, as they really know every aspect of the filmmaking process.