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This is a favorable story in a periodical that Donald Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's paean to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photo of the president shot from a low angle while the sun positioned behind him.

The outcome, he says, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on his preferred network.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that looked like a suspended coronet, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I consistently avoided taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. What is their intention, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to appear on the cover of Time and did so four times last year. The obsession has reached Trump’s golf clubs – in 2017, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers shown in several of his venues.

The latest edition’s photo was captured by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for his chin and neck area – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office tweeting a version with the offending area blurred.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement might turn into a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the region.

Meanwhile, a defence of Trump's image has come from a surprising origin: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to condemn the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's amazing: a photo says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and animosity –perhaps even perverts – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the same publication displayed on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she said.

The explanation for his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, a media professional.

The image itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person evokes a feeling of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see photos of Trump in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair looks erased because the rear illumination has bleached that section of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Although the story’s headline pairs nicely with his facial expression in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The publication approached Time magazine for comment.