The Academy’s nominations announcement has come and gone. So what have the craftsmen and craftswomen told us this year?

The first thing that jumps to mind is that the branches weren’t afraid to think for themselves this year.

For the first time since the black-and-white and color categories merged in 1967, the Best cinematography category is completely void of Best Picture nominees. Tom Stern (“Letters from Iwo Jima”), Rodrigo Prieto (“Babel”) and Michael Ballhaus (“The Departed”) are all MIA. The branch also continues to shy, unapologetically, away from digital photography. Dean Semler’s work on “Apocalypto” was a guild nominee seemingly on track for an Oscar mention.

Instead, we’re left with nominees where the imagery was realized by lighting and practicality. Emmanuel Lubezki’s intense work on “Children of Men” probably looks set for the win, and it couldn’t be more deserved. Guillermo Navarro’s critically acclaimed work on “Pan’s Labyrinth” is probably the only semblance of a threat.

Dick Pope finally has a nomination to his credit for inspired work on “The Illusionist.” But as the film’s only nomination, a win will be a difficult climb. Also the only nominee from his film is Vilmos Zsigmond for “The Black Dahlia,” who managed to trump “The Good Shepherd”’s Robert Richardson to be the veteran able to translate his guild nod to Oscar. The work isn’t a personal favorite, but I must say that it’s nice to see Zsigmond in the running once again. I suspect many in the branch felt the same way.

As for Wally Pfister, his nomination for “The Prestige” is another very deserved surprise. He and director Christopher Nolan are turning into a great director-D.P. team. May their future collaborations continue to be great.

Just like the cinematographers, the art directors also shied completely away from Best Picture nominees. They, too, have not done this since the black-and-white and color categories were merged in 1967.

The nominations for Eugenio Caballero (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) and John Myrhe (“Dreamgirls”) should surprise no one. But what did serve as a surprise to many was the omission of Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland for “Children of Men.” But as great as the work is, it really isn’t Oscar fodder.

Instead, the branch looked to the fantastical work of Rick Heinrichs on “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” This was the only nomination this sequel received which the original did not. Ironically, Heinrichs is the only technician to be a new addition to the series.

Nathan Crowley also got his first nomination – a much deserved one might I add – for “The Presitge.” This comes after something of a snub last year for “Batman Begins.” He managed to sneak in over another grand recreation of an old world: “Curse of the Golden Flower.”

Janine Claudia Oppewall’s sets for Robert DeNiro’s “The Good Shepherd” rounded out the category. Set decorator Gretchen Rau received a posthumous nomination. While Rau got her final tip of the hat, Henry Bumstead did not, with both “Flags of Our Fathers” and Best Picture nominee “Letters from Iwo Jima” in the running. My suspicion is that a combination of vote-splitting and neither film featuring terribly showy art direction prevented him from a final nomination.

For the second year in a row, the editors also included merely two Best Picture nominees among their own choices. The legendary Thelma Schoonmaker got her sixth nomination for the action-heavy “The Departed,” while the branch also cited “Babel”’s Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrione, who is returning to the nominees six years after winning for another film about interlocking stories, “Traffic.”

A third nominee – the kinetic work of Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson on “United 93” – should not come as a surprise to anyone. But the final two nominees were actually quite shocking, both having missed guild nominations.

Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez were singled out for “Children of Men,” an inspired choice. Cuarón joins the ranks of David Lean and the Coen brothers, nominated for editing his own film.

I wish I could share the same enthusiasm for Steven Rosenblum, nominated for “Blood Diamond.” I have no delusions that my opinion is indicative of Academy thoughts. However, what’s really confusing here is that Rosenblum’s previous two Oscar nominations (“Braveheart,” “Glory”) came on the heels of guild nominations and wins. “Blood Diamond” did not even receive an ACE nod last week.

Despite all the action nominated, Stuart Baird was omitted for “Casino Royale,” part of that film’s unfortunate shutout. Virginia Katz missed out for “Dreamgirls,” despite the fact that musicals are a favorite of this branch. Lucia Zucchetti also missed for “The Queen.” However, considering the rise in her career in recent years, I strongly suspect we might be seeing her in the future.

The costume designers’ branch also steered clear of Best Picture nominees for the most part, while simultaneously opening themselves up to a line of work they almost never embrace. After a dozen years of period and fantasy film domination, not one but two contemporary showcases have been cited: Patricia Field’s trendy and character-serving threads for “The Devil Wears Prada” and Consolata Boyle’s fashioning of royal wear on “The Queen.” I find this quite encouraging, and these films’ inclusion also results in the first occasion where all Oscar nominees have come from the guild’s chosen crop.

Typical yet deserving choices rounded out the lot. The expansive showbiz wardrobe designed by Sharen Davis for “Dreamgirls” landed a nomination, as did costume showcases “Curse of the Golden Flower” and “Marie Antoinette,” allowing Chung Man Yee and Milena Canonero to become the sole nominees for their films.

The two categories that allow a mere three nominees both bestowed the eternal moniker “Oscar nominee” on a curious duo: “Click” in Best Makeup and “Poseidon” in Best Visual Effects. Kudos to Kris for predicting these two nominations. “Poseidon” can thank being in a very weak year for the category. I would have thought Rick Baker (makeup guru) would have helped “Click” but it turns out he was presumably just an advisor as he doesn’t share in the nomination. Interesting.

“Posiedon” was nominated alongside obvious contenders “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “Superman Returns.” But the latter was strangely omitted from the Best Makeup category, which was capped off by “Apocalypto” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” The omission of “Pirates,” is strange, especially after having made the bakeoff. I expect “Pan’s” to garner the makeup statue pretty easily, if not quite as easily as “Pirates” in the visual effects category.

Increasing to five nominations this year was the Best Sound Editing category. This made predicting the lineup all the more difficult, especially considering the Motion Picture Sound Editors will not be announcing their nominees until tomorrow. I correctly guessed that this would be the only category to find room for both “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima,” but the question now becomes how they will affect each other as far as the race for the win is concerned.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” also found itself predictably among the nominees for its loud and notable sound effects. However, other titles of consideration – “Cars,” “Casino Royale,” and “Superman Returns” – all came up short. We rather surprisingly got nominations for “Apocalypto” and “Blood Diamond” in their stead.

The sound mixers’ branch unsurprisingly translated four nominees from the Cinema Audio Society’s crop, crews chocked full of Oscar favorites: Reitz, Rudloff, Campbell and Martin for “Flags of Our Fathers;” Beemer, Minkler and Burton for “Dreamgirls;” Behlmer, Nelson and Sharrock for “Blood Diamond;” and Boyes, Massey and Orloff for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

“Babel,” on the other hand, failed to convert its BAFTA and CAS nominations. Its lack of any previous nominees probably did it in. Instead, the branch turned to perennial nominees Kevin O’Connell and Greg Russell. They each earned their 19th and 11th nominations respectively, for Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto.” If these guys don’t finally score a statue this year, they surely ought to have the best chance of their careers next season with “Spider-Man 3” and “Transformers” on the plate.

One of the big stories Tuesday morning was that, for the first time in Academy history, the nominations leader did not have a Best Picture nomination among its tally. One of the principle reasons “Dreamgirls” led the way was that it earned THREE mentions in the Best Song category. This puts the film up there with “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King” as far as dominance in the category is concerned.

Joining the “Dreamgirls” tunes is Melissa Ethridge’s wonderful “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth.” Kudos to Paramount Vantage for getting this song out there; it becomes the first song from a documentary ever nominated in both this category and its own. Randy Newman’s sweet “Our Town” from “Cars” completes the quintet, earning him his seventeenth nomination and his first since his win five years ago.

Omitted are Golden Globe-nominated songs “Never Gonna Break My Faith” (Bryan Adams’s ballad from “Bobby”), “Song of the Heart” (Prince’s Globe-winning ditty from “Happy Feet”) and Seal’s “A Father’s Way” from “The Pursuit of Happyness.” All of these songs play over the end credits of their films. I suppose the attempt to ensure that nominated tunes play a substantial role in their films is working, for the most part.

One of the strangest categories every year is always Best Original Score. This year, Gustavo Santaolalla is once again among the nominees for his heavily promoted and precursor-nominated work on “Babel.” Alexandre Desplat also finally has an Oscar nomination to his credit, but not for his Golden Globe-winning work on “The Painted Veil” (sadly shut-out across the board) but his BAFTA-nominated delicate compositions for Stephen Frears’s “The Queen.”

Beyond the two Best Picture nominees, Javier Navarette got in for “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which did have a wonderful theme. I suppose two new nominees (the other being Desplat) was enough for the branch, as Clint Mansell unfortunately did not make it in for “The Fountain.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Ugh!!!)

Thomas Newman managed his eighth career nomination for Steven Soderbergh’s maligned “The Good German.” This is truly a branch that does not seem to mind how well – or poorly – a film is thought of, so long as the composer is a favorite. The music over the opening credits should have clued all of us into this nomination. Newman trumped James Horner (“Apocalypto”) and Hans Zimmer (“The Da Vinci Code”) for a veteran slot.

The category rounded itself out with Philip Glass, scoring not for his BFCA-winning work on “The Illusionist” but for his very loud and memorable compositions in “Notes on a Scandal,” but all things considered, this remains a very open category – as does much of the rest of the field. We should certainly have fun watching this race unfold.

Congratulations to all the nominees.