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It is a favorable feature in a magazine that Donald Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Trump's role in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photo of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

The result, Trump claims, is ""extremely poor".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", he shared on Truth Social.

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but extremely small. Truly strange! I have always hated being captured from low angles, but this is a extremely poor image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to be pictured on the cover of Time and accomplished it multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has made it as far as Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues exhibited in a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was taken by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on 5 October.

Its angle was unflattering to his chin and neck area – an opportunity that California governor Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office tweeting a version with the offending area pixelated.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement may become a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

At the same time, a defence of his portrayal has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "damaging" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a image says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people obsessed with malice and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", the official wrote on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she noted.

The explanation for the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority according to Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look commanding. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their importance and the president's visage actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. Even though the article's title complements Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the appearance are not flattering."

The publication approached the magazine for a statement.