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It is a glowing article in a magazine that the president has consistently praised – with one exception. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's praise to Trump's role in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was accompanied by a photo of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

The result, he says, is "super bad".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the most awful ever", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was an object above my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being shot from underneath, but this is a super bad image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown obvious his ambition to feature on Time’s cover and did so multiple times in the past year. This fixation has reached his golf courses – previously, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers shown in a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was captured by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

The perspective highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office sharing an altered image with the offending area blurred.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Trump's ceasefire agreement, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement could be a defining accomplishment of Trump's second term, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defense of Trump's image has been offered by unusual quarters: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry intervened to criticise the "self-incriminating" image choice.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", she shared on the messaging platform.

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

The answer to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority says a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself technically is good," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look heroic. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their majesty and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Although the story’s headline marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being captured from low angles, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the appearance are not flattering."

The Guardian approached Time magazine for comment.