One of the most accomplished cinematographers of Kannada cinema, K Krishna Kumar is the alumnus of Government Film and Television Institute, Bangalore. Also a director, Krishna made his debut in 2002 with the movie Romeo and Juliet. He is hailed as the pioneer for introducing new-age cinematography techniques with the movie Mungaru Male (2006) - one of the most successful films of Kannada cinema and is also regarded as a cult classic. He went on to win the Karnataka State Award for Best Cinematography in 2006 for his work on Mungaru Male.

A couple of years later he won the Filmfare Award for the movie Haage Summane and has since then worked on films such as Raaj the Showman (2009), Johny Mera Naam Preethi Mera Kaam (2011), Jaanu (2012), and Chowka (2016).

Krishna's directorial debut Gajakesari (2014) won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Entertaining Film of the Year and he was also nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Director - Kannada. In 2017 he directed the movie Hebbuli and worked as a cinematographer for the movie Once More Kaurava starring Anusha Rangnath and Naresh Gowda.