He was one of the founders of the American Society of Cinematographers, and was nominated for three Academy Awards in his career in cinema.

Edeson began his career as a still photographer, but turned to movies in 1911 as a camera operator at the American Éclair Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of the 20th century.

[2][3][4] When the Éclair Studio was reorganized as the World Film Company, he was promoted to chief cinematographer assigned to the star Clara Kimball Young.

[5] Throughout the twenties, Edeson photographed a number of important films, including Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and the groundbreaking special effects film The Lost World (1925).

His principal work was on the side of realism, which is considered by most film historians to represent the "zenith of Hollywood photography."