Wouldn't it make more sense if `image::open()` automatically applied the orientation by default?

Applying rotation can have a large performance penalty (both cpu and memory), so you want to be able to avoid it if possible.

Probably for a higher-level crate, (like the one the author wrote), but it adds computational complexity, and you don't want that by default with a low level crate like `image`.

For example, if you wanted to blur or grayscale an image, do you really want to rotate it? When you re-save it, you'll have to remove the exif rotation metadata too.