He became a main cinematographer and he realised his first silent movies with "Die Ehe einer Achtzehnjährigen" (1919) and "Vom Rande des Sumpfes" (1919).
He worked with Leni Riefenstahl on the 1935 propaganda documentary Triumph of the Will.
He was prohibited in 1941 to work again. It lasted till 1942 before Karl Attenberger was able again to work as a cinematographer but at the beginning he only got offers for six advertising films.
After the war Karl Attenberger only realised one more movie with "Frau Holle" (1948). A few years later he died because of cancer.
The cinematographer Karl Attenberger made an education as a photographer in Munich before he entered the film business in 1906. There he first was active as a camera assistant.