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It is a glowing story in a publication that Trump has consistently praised – except for one issue. The front-page image, Trump declared, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's praise to Donald Trump's part in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photograph of the president captured from underneath while the sun positioned behind him.

The result, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was something floating my head that appeared as a suspended diadem, but very tiny. Truly strange! I have consistently disliked being shot from underneath, but this is a extremely poor image, and it merits criticism. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to be pictured on Time’s cover and accomplished it multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has reached his golf courses – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues shown in some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

Its angle did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that California governor Gavin Newsom seized, with his press office sharing an altered image with the problematic part pixelated.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a Palestinian prisoner release. The deal may become a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the region.

Meanwhile, a support for Trump's image has emerged from unusual quarters: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office intervened to condemn the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photo says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", she shared on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the same publication used on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she added.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve innovatively depicting a sense of power according to an imaging expert, a media professional.

The photograph technically technically is good," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are not flattering."

The Guardian contacted the periodical for feedback.