How to adjust the orientation of a image in order to show proper preview of the image?

How about just rotating the image with CSS?

reader.onload = function (e) {
    $(elm).css({
        "background-image":"url('"+e.target.result+"')",
        "transform": "rotate(90deg)"
    });
}

---

Edit: Well, after a brief dive into the world of EXIF data, I think I might have a solution for you. I borrowed Ali's getOrientation() function, as @Nick suggested, and then I just corrected the orientation with CSS as follows:

function correctOrientation(element, orientation){
    switch (orientation) {
      case 2: $(element).css("transform", "scaleX(-1)");
        break;
      case 3: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(180deg)");
        break;
      case 4: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(180deg) scaleX(-1)");
        break;
      case 5: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(-90deg) scaleX(-1)");
        break;
      case 6: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(90deg)");
        break;
      case 7: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(90deg) scaleX(-1)");
        break;
      case 8: $(element).css("transform", "rotate(-90deg)");
        break;
      default: break;
    }
}

fiddle

And if you need example files to test it, get them here.

---

Edit: Placing the uploaded image in an <img> instead of the div's background-image: https://jsfiddle.net/ynzvtLe2/2/

This should work. Here I get the original orientation of the image file and then build out a canvas with appropriate rotation correction. We then set the correctly rotated image as preview.

function imagePreview(input,elm) {
    // image file
    var file = input.files[0]; 

    if (!file.type.match('image/jpeg.*')) {
        // image is not a jpeg, do something?
    }

    var reader = new FileReader();
    reader.onload = function(e) {
        var exif = piexif.load(e.target.result);
        var image = new Image();
        image.onload = function () {
            //get original orientation of the uploaded image
            var orientation = exif["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.Orientation];

            // Build a temperory canvas to manipulate image to required orientation
            var canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
            canvas.width = image.width;
            canvas.height = image.height;
            var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
            var x = 0;
            var y = 0;
            ctx.save();
            if (orientation == 2) {
                x = -canvas.width;
                ctx.scale(-1, 1);
            } else if (orientation == 3) {
                x = -canvas.width;
                y = -canvas.height;
                ctx.scale(-1, -1);
            } else if (orientation == 4) {
                y = -canvas.height;
                ctx.scale(1, -1);
            } else if (orientation == 5) {
                canvas.width = image.height;
                canvas.height = image.width;
                ctx.translate(canvas.width, canvas.height / canvas.width);
                ctx.rotate(Math.PI / 2);
                y = -canvas.width;
                ctx.scale(1, -1);
            } else if (orientation == 6) {
                canvas.width = image.height;
                canvas.height = image.width;
                ctx.translate(canvas.width, canvas.height / canvas.width);
                ctx.rotate(Math.PI / 2);
            } else if (orientation == 7) {
                canvas.width = image.height;
                canvas.height = image.width;
                ctx.translate(canvas.width, canvas.height / canvas.width);
                ctx.rotate(Math.PI / 2);
                x = -canvas.height;
                ctx.scale(-1, 1);
            } else if (orientation == 8) {
                canvas.width = image.height;
                canvas.height = image.width;
                ctx.translate(canvas.width, canvas.height / canvas.width);
                ctx.rotate(Math.PI / 2);
                x = -canvas.height;
                y = -canvas.width;
                ctx.scale(-1, -1);
            }
            ctx.drawImage(image, x, y);
            ctx.restore();

            var dataURL = canvas.toDataURL("image/jpeg", 1.0);

            // set the preview image to your element
            $(elm).css("background-image","url('"+dataURL+"')");
        };
        image.src = e.target.result;
    };

    reader.readAsDataURL(file);

}


$("#settings_img").on("change",function(){
    imagePreview(this,"#settings_img_elm");
});

Make sure to include this library first: https://github.com/hMatoba/piexifjs

I got help from the documentation: https://readthedocs.org/projects/piexif/downloads/pdf/latest/