Cropping an image changes exposure

GS 9.9.2, macOS 14.7.5. I usually do all my image processing in batch prior to importing into GS. But sometimes I decide to crop an image after it’s been put into the GS listing template. I shoot square and have adjusted exposures for the images in batch in Apple Photos on Mac. But I have noticed that when I use the built in GS editor and crop some of my white background out, the image ends up over exposed during the preview of the crop and the final crop result.

I’m assuming this is because the exposure change I did in Apple Photos is still being applied to the cropped image, and now, since there is less white background, the exposure compensation [I always brighten/over expose by about .20 stops] is now applied to the cropped image, since the adjustments in Photos are simply kept as metadata.

Other than re-doing the crop in Apple Photos before importing into GS, is there any way to change this behavior? Eg: the subject of the image is already exposed to what I want, so the extra over exposure after cropping washes the image out.

Thanks!