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It is a glowing story in a magazine that the president has frequently admired – except for one issue. The front-page image, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's praise to the president's involvement in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a photograph of the president taken from below while the sun shining from the back.

The effect, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that looked like a suspended diadem, but extremely small. Truly strange! I have always hated being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What is their goal, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time’s cover and accomplished it four times last year. This fixation has extended to the president's resorts – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages exhibited in a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

The perspective was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Newsom did not miss, with his communications team tweeting a version with the offending area pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been freed under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a defining accomplishment of Trump's second term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the region.

Simultaneously, a defence of his portrayal has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to condemn the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

"It’s astonishing: a image says more about those who chose it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", she wrote on her social channel.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The response to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a feeling of authority stated by Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The photograph technically is professionally taken," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their importance and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. Even though the feature's heading pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The publication reached out to the periodical for comment.