M: What kind of category would you call a forest in a photograph or drawing? I'm getting stuck on the word scenario, and that's not it. I'm looking for something to help categorize things. Other elements in this set would be desert, city, waterfall, that kind of thing. I just can't think of the right word.

G: TL;DR: The word you’re looking for is most likely “landscape.”

Best fit

Close alternatives (slightly different nuance)

Quick distinction (why “scenario” felt wrong)

Bottom line

If you want something that feels natural, widely understood, and flexible:
→ “Landscape” is the cleanest answer.

M: Can you come up with anything better? Because it's supposed to be a categorization kind of thing for an image set. So landscape is a little bit particular. Like, if it's just the shot of a forest, or if it's a scene of like a picnic in a forest, both of them should go in this category as a forest. Like I said, landscape implies more of a type of image rather than giving what I'm looking for in terms of setting.

G: TL;DR: The cleanest word for what you want is “setting”.
If you want something more system-like: “environment” or “locale.”

Why “setting” actually fits better than it sounds

This is exactly how games, film, and literature classify scenes when they don’t care about action.

Strong alternatives (depending on tone)

1. Environment (most neutral/systematic)

2. Locale (tight, underused, very precise)

3. Backdrop (if you want visual emphasis)

What to avoid (and why)

Bottom line

If you want one word that behaves correctly across all cases:

→ Setting (most intuitive)
→ Environment (most system-friendly)
→ Locale (most precise, slightly formal)

“Locale” is probably the closest thing to what you were reaching for but couldn’t quite name.

M: Okay, go online and tell me how the program XnView treats categories versus how it treats the permanent tags that it puts into an image. Like, is there a difference, and if so, can I put the categories into the image as an EXIF tag, or what?

G: TL;DR:

1. The core distinction (this is the part you were actually asking)

Categories (XnView internal)

“Categories… manage a database (filter, search…)” citeturn0search1

Also explicitly:

“Categories are separate and distinct from keywords, with categories stored in a separate database.” citeturn0search20

Keywords (actual metadata in the file)

“Tags” in XnView (confusingly named)

“In XnViewMP ‘tag’ is a marking feature, no metadata corresponding.” citeturn0search1

2. Can categories be written into the image?

Yes — but only as keywords

You cannot store “categories” as their own thing in EXIF/IPTC in any meaningful modern way.

What XnView does instead:

“Categories can easily write… XMP subject… and hierarchical subject.” citeturn0search3

Enable “Export catalog’s categories” to write categories as IPTC or XMP keywords citeturn0search8

3. Important nuance (this is where people get burned)

Even if you enable export:

That means:

4. EXIF specifically (your direct question)

Short answer: No, not really

“Almost all exif fields are technical informations… written by cameras” citeturn0search0

So:

5. Practical translation to your use case

What you want (“forest / desert / city” as a classification layer):

Correct way in XnView:

What ends up in the file:

What stays only in XnView:

6. Clean mental model

Bottom line

That distinction is the whole game with XnView.

M: Okay, then not EXIF. I was using the wrong term. Which is the better choice if I've got a hierarchical setup? Like I'm trying to create a situation where the viewer and the database that you're talking about has, for example, a category called food, with a subcategory of fast food. And I want both of those included in terms of the long-term tagging. And then, let's say, what was one example? Structures. I have a few different structures that I've used as tags, but I don't actually want structure in there as a tag, just the subcategories of bridge or landmark or whatever. What would be the appropriate tagging system to use and enable and whatever?

G: TL;DR:
Use XMP hierarchical keywords as your real tagging system.

The system that actually fits what you described

✅ XMP Hierarchical Keywords

This is the only option that cleanly supports:

Example (your case):

How to configure XnView (conceptually)

You want two behaviors:

1. Preserve hierarchy where useful

2. Suppress “organizational-only” parents

So your setup should:

The critical toggle (this is where your use case lives or dies)

You’ll run into two export behaviors:

Option A — Export full hierarchy as keywords

Good when:

Option B — Export leaf-only keywords

Good when:

What you actually want (hybrid behavior)

XnView doesn’t perfectly “think” like this by default, so the clean approach is:

Clean mental model (important)

You’re really building two layers:

Layer 1 — Internal logic (Categories)

Layer 2 — External truth (XMP keywords)

Practical recommendation (no fluff)

If you want this to behave long-term:

Subtle but important insight

You are describing two different types of parent nodes:

1. Semantic parents (keep)

2. Organizational parents (discard)

Most systems don’t distinguish this automatically — you have to.

Bottom line

That gives you a system that’s both structured and portable without clutter.