SceneCaptureType says which kind of scene the camera was set up for. It is a SHORT in the Exif IFD, tag 0xA406, added in EXIF 2.2, and the specification only defines four values. Most photos you check will say Standard.
| Value | ExifTool prints | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Standard | P, A, S and M, normally |
| 1 | Landscape | scene mode |
| 2 | Portrait | scene mode |
| 3 | Night | night scene mode |
| 4 | Other | not standard, some Samsung models |
Portrait and Landscape also exist as values 7 and 8 of ExposureProgram, so a camera in its Portrait scene mode can say so twice. Night is the one thing this tag adds. Sports, macro, food, fireworks and the dozens of other scene modes on compacts and phones have no slot, so they come out as Standard or as whatever the firmware considers closest.
A picture style is not a scene
Looks you apply to the image, like Canon picture styles or Fujifilm film simulations, are a different thing and go to the maker notes. A Canon EOS RP JPEG shot in aperture priority with the Portrait picture style:
$ exiftool -G1 -s -SceneCaptureType -PictureStyle photo.jpg
[ExifIFD] SceneCaptureType : Standard
[Canon] PictureStyle : Portrait
$ exiftool -G1 -s -n -SceneCaptureType -PictureStyle photo.jpg
[ExifIFD] SceneCaptureType : 0
[Canon] PictureStyle : 130Both say "Portrait" in a menu somewhere, but only one is a scene mode. If you are sorting a library by look, the maker-note field is the one you want.
Reading and writing the scene capture type
SceneCaptureType is not among the tags our reader and editor handle, and desktop viewers differ on whether they show it (see viewing metadata on Windows and Mac for the built-in options). ExifTool reads and writes it in any JPEG or TIFF:
exiftool -G1 -s -SceneCaptureType photo.jpg
exiftool -SceneCaptureType=Night photo.jpg
exiftool -SceneCaptureType#=0 photo.jpg
exiftool -SceneCaptureType= photo.jpgThe last line deletes the tag. There is rarely a reason to touch it: it reveals nothing private, and changing it alters no pixels. The exposure mode tag at 0xA402, added in the same EXIF 2.2 batch, is just as limited in what it records.