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This is a positive story in a publication that Donald Trump has consistently praised – except for one issue. The magazine's cover photo, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Trump's role in mediating a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a image of the president taken from below while the sun behind his head.

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

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his social media platform.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an remarkably little one. Quite bizarre! I always disliked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. Why did they do this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown obvious his ambition to appear on Time’s cover and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has reached the president's resorts – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages on display at a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was captured by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The shot's viewpoint highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that the governor of California Newsom took advantage of, with his communications team tweeting a version with the offending area pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement may become a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the region.

At the same time, a defense of Trump's image has emerged from an unexpected source: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to denounce the "damaging" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a image says more about those who selected it than about the subject. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova posted on her social channel.

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

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person evokes a feeling of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It's rare you see photos of Trump in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she says. Even though the story’s headline pairs nicely with his facial expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and although all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the appearance are unflattering."

The Guardian reached out to Time magazine for feedback.