diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/CMakeLists.txt b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/CMakeLists.txt
index c3021cbe5..7117713a0 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${JPEG_INCLUDE_DIR} )
 
-SET(TARGET_SRC ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp )
+SET(TARGET_SRC
+    EXIF_Orientation.cpp
+    ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp
+)
+
 SET(TARGET_LIBRARIES_VARS JPEG_LIBRARY )
 #### end var setup  ###
 SETUP_PLUGIN(jpeg)
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e0c25ae5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+#include "EXIF_Orientation.h"
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <osg/Notify>
+#include <osg/Endian>
+
+#define EXIF_IDENT_STRING  "Exif\000\000"
+
+static unsigned short de_get16(void *ptr, bool byteSwap)
+{
+       unsigned short val;
+
+       memcpy(&val, ptr, sizeof(val));
+       if (byteSwap) osg::swapBytes(val);
+
+       return val;
+}
+
+static unsigned int de_get32(void *ptr, bool byteSwap)
+{
+       unsigned int val;
+
+       memcpy(&val, ptr, sizeof(val));
+       if (byteSwap) osg::swapBytes(val);
+
+       return val;
+}
+
+int EXIF_Orientation (j_decompress_ptr cinfo)
+{
+    OSG_INFO<<"get_orientation()"<<std::endl;
+    jpeg_saved_marker_ptr exif_marker;  /* Location of the Exif APP1 marker */
+    jpeg_saved_marker_ptr cmarker;      /* Location to check for Exif APP1 marker */
+
+    /* check for Exif marker (also called the APP1 marker) */
+    exif_marker = NULL;
+    cmarker = cinfo->marker_list;
+    while (cmarker)
+    {
+        if (cmarker->marker == EXIF_JPEG_MARKER)
+        {
+            /* The Exif APP1 marker should contain a unique
+                identification string ("Exif\0\0"). Check for it. */
+            if (!memcmp (cmarker->data, EXIF_IDENT_STRING, 6))
+            {
+                exif_marker = cmarker;
+            }
+        }
+        cmarker = cmarker->next;
+    }
+
+    if (exif_marker==NULL)
+    {
+        OSG_INFO<<"exif_marker not found "<<std::endl;
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    OSG_INFO<<"exif_marker found "<<exif_marker<<std::endl;
+
+    /* Do we have enough data? */
+    if (exif_marker->data_length < 32)
+    {
+        OSG_INFO<<"exif_marker too short : "<<exif_marker->data_length<<std::endl;
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+
+    osg::Endian tiffHeaderEndian = osg::LittleEndian;
+
+    const char leth[]  = {0x49, 0x49, 0x2a, 0x00};  // Little endian TIFF header
+    const char beth[]  = {0x4d, 0x4d, 0x00, 0x2a};  // Big endian TIFF header
+
+    /* Just skip data until TIFF header - it should be within 16 bytes from marker start.
+        Normal structure relative to APP1 marker -
+            0x0000: APP1 marker entry = 2 bytes
+            0x0002: APP1 length entry = 2 bytes
+            0x0004: Exif Identifier entry = 6 bytes
+            0x000A: Start of TIFF header (Byte order entry) - 4 bytes
+                    - This is what we look for, to determine endianess.
+            0x000E: 0th IFD offset pointer - 4 bytes
+
+            exif_marker->data points to the first data after the APP1 marker
+            and length entries, which is the exif identification string.
+            The TIFF header should thus normally be found at i=6, below,
+            and the pointer to IFD0 will be at 6+4 = 10.
+    */
+
+
+    /* Check for TIFF header and catch endianess */
+    unsigned int i = 0;
+    for(i=0; i < 16; ++i)
+    {
+        /* Little endian TIFF header */
+        if (memcmp (&exif_marker->data[i], leth, 4) == 0)
+        {
+            tiffHeaderEndian = osg::LittleEndian;
+            break;
+        }
+        /* Big endian TIFF header */
+        else if (memcmp (&exif_marker->data[i], beth, 4) == 0)
+        {
+            tiffHeaderEndian = osg::BigEndian;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /* So did we find a TIFF header or did we just hit end of buffer? */
+    if (i >= 16)
+    {
+        OSG_INFO<<"Could not find TIFF header"<<std::endl;
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    OSG_INFO<<"Found TIFF header = "<<i<<" endian = "<<((tiffHeaderEndian==osg::BigEndian)?"BigEndian":"LittleEndian")<< std::endl;
+
+    bool swapBytes = osg::getCpuByteOrder()!=tiffHeaderEndian;
+    OSG_INFO<<"swapBytes = "<<swapBytes<< std::endl;
+
+    /* Read out the offset pointer to IFD0 */
+    unsigned int offset  = de_get32(&exif_marker->data[i] + 4, swapBytes);
+    i += offset;
+
+    OSG_INFO<<"offset = "<<offset<<std::endl;
+
+    /* Check that we still are within the buffer and can read the tag count */
+    if ((i + 2) > exif_marker->data_length)
+        return 0;
+
+    /* Find out how many tags we have in IFD0. As per the TIFF spec, the first
+    two bytes of the IFD contain a count of the number of tags. */
+    unsigned int tags    = de_get16(&exif_marker->data[i], swapBytes);
+    i += 2;
+
+    OSG_INFO<<"tags = "<<tags<<std::endl;
+
+    /* Check that we still have enough data for all tags to check. The tags
+    are listed in consecutive 12-byte blocks. The tag ID, type, size, and
+    a pointer to the actual value, are packed into these 12 byte entries. */
+    if ((i + tags * 12) > exif_marker->data_length)
+    {
+        OSG_INFO<<"Not enough length for requied tags"<<std::endl;
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    /* Endian the orientation tag ID, to locate it more easily */
+    unsigned int orient_tag_id = 0x112;
+
+    /* Check through IFD0 for tags of interest */
+    while (tags--)
+    {
+        unsigned int tag = de_get16(&exif_marker->data[i], swapBytes);
+        unsigned int type   = de_get16(&exif_marker->data[i + 2], swapBytes);
+        unsigned int count  = de_get32(&exif_marker->data[i + 4], swapBytes);
+
+        OSG_INFO<<"  tag=0x"<<std::hex<<tag<<std::dec<<", type="<<type<<", count="<<count<<std::endl;
+
+        /* Is this the orientation tag? */
+        if (tag==orient_tag_id)
+        {
+            /* Check that type and count fields are OK. The orientation field
+                will consist of a single (count=1) 2-byte integer (type=3). */
+            if (type != 3 || count != 1) return 0;
+
+
+            /* Return the orientation value. Within the 12-byte block, the
+                pointer to the actual data is at offset 8. */
+            unsigned int ret =  de_get16(&exif_marker->data[i + 8], swapBytes);
+
+            OSG_INFO<<"Found orientationTag, ret = "<<ret<<std::endl;
+            return ret <= 8 ? ret : 0;
+        }
+        /* move the pointer to the next 12-byte tag field. */
+        i = i + 12;
+    }
+
+    OSG_INFO<<"Could not find EXIF Orientation tag"<<std::endl;
+
+    return 0; /* No EXIF Orientation tag found */
+}
+
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.h b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2b1879037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/EXIF_Orientation.h
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#ifndef EXIF_Orientation_H
+#define EXIF_Orientation_H
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+extern "C"
+{
+    #include <jpeglib.h>
+    #include "jerror.h"
+}
+
+#define EXIF_JPEG_MARKER   JPEG_APP0+1
+
+extern int EXIF_Orientation (j_decompress_ptr cinfo);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp
index c07e7b969..74be90cb8 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/jpeg/ReaderWriterJPEG.cpp
@@ -48,13 +48,7 @@
  *
  */
 
-#include <stdio.h>
-
-extern "C"
-{
-    #include <jpeglib.h>
-    #include "jerror.h"
-}
+#include "EXIF_Orientation.h"
 
 #include <setjmp.h>
 #include <string.h>
@@ -467,11 +461,11 @@ copyScanline(unsigned char *currPtr, unsigned char *from, int cnt)
     return currPtr;
 }
 
-unsigned char *
-simage_jpeg_load(std::istream& fin,
-int *width_ret,
-int *height_ret,
-int *numComponents_ret)
+unsigned char* simage_jpeg_load(std::istream& fin,
+                                int *width_ret,
+                                int *height_ret,
+                                int *numComponents_ret,
+                                unsigned int* exif_orientation)
 {
     int width;
     int height;
@@ -535,8 +529,12 @@ int *numComponents_ret)
     //jpeg_stdio_src(&cinfo, infile);
     jpeg_istream_src(&cinfo,&fin);
 
+
+
     /* Step 3: read file parameters with jpeg_read_header() */
 
+    jpeg_save_markers (&cinfo, EXIF_JPEG_MARKER, 0xffff);
+
     (void) jpeg_read_header(&cinfo, TRUE);
     /* We can ignore the return value from jpeg_read_header since
      *   (a) suspension is not possible with the stdio data source, and
@@ -544,6 +542,14 @@ int *numComponents_ret)
      * See libjpeg.doc for more info.
      */
 
+    /* check for orientation tag */
+    *exif_orientation = EXIF_Orientation (&cinfo);
+    if (*exif_orientation!=0)
+    {
+        OSG_INFO<<"We have an EXIF_Orientation "<<exif_orientation<<std::endl;
+    }
+
+
     /* Step 4: set parameters for decompression */
     /* In this example, we don't need to change any of the defaults set by
      * jpeg_read_header(), so we do nothing here.
@@ -825,8 +831,9 @@ class ReaderWriterJPEG : public osgDB::ReaderWriter
             int width_ret;
             int height_ret;
             int numComponents_ret;
+            unsigned int exif_orientation=0;
 
-            imageData = osgDBJPEG::simage_jpeg_load(fin,&width_ret,&height_ret,&numComponents_ret);
+            imageData = osgDBJPEG::simage_jpeg_load(fin, &width_ret, &height_ret, &numComponents_ret, &exif_orientation);
 
             if (imageData==NULL) return ReadResult::ERROR_IN_READING_FILE;
 
@@ -857,6 +864,23 @@ class ReaderWriterJPEG : public osgDB::ReaderWriter
                 imageData,
                 osg::Image::USE_NEW_DELETE);
 
+            if (exif_orientation>0)
+            {
+                // guide for meaning of exif_orientation provided by webpage: http://sylvana.net/jpegcrop/exif_orientation.html
+                switch(exif_orientation)
+                {
+                    case(1): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 1 (top, left side), No need to rotate image. "<<std::endl; break; // do noting
+                    case(2): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 2 (top, right side), flip x."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(3): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 3 (bottom, right side), rotate 180."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(4): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 4 (bottom, left side). flip y, rotate 180."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(5): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 5 (left side, top). flip y, rotate 90."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(6): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 6 (right side, top). rotate 90."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(7): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 7 (right side, bottom), flip Y, rotate 270."<<std::endl; break;
+                    case(8): OSG_NOTICE<<"EXIF_Orientation 8 (left side, bottom). rotate 270."<<std::endl; break;
+                }
+
+            }
+
             return pOsgImage;
         }
 
@@ -883,6 +907,8 @@ class ReaderWriterJPEG : public osgDB::ReaderWriter
             std::string fileName = osgDB::findDataFile( file, options );
             if (fileName.empty()) return ReadResult::FILE_NOT_FOUND;
 
+            OSG_NOTICE<<std::endl<<"readImage("<<file<<")"<<std::endl;
+
             osgDB::ifstream istream(fileName.c_str(), std::ios::in | std::ios::binary);
             if(!istream) return ReadResult::ERROR_IN_READING_FILE;
             ReadResult rr = readJPGStream(istream);