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This is a glowing article in a magazine that Donald Trump has long exalted – but for one catch. The cover picture, he stated, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's paean to the president's involvement in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a image of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun positioned behind him.

The effect, Trump claims, is "super bad".

"The publication wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but extremely small. Very odd! I have always hated being captured from low angles, but this is a extremely poor image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time’s cover and accomplished it four times last year. The preoccupation has made it as far as his golf courses – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

The most recent cover image was shot by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

Its angle was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that California governor Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his communications team posting a modified photo with the problematic part pixelated.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a Palestinian prisoner release. The deal could be a major success of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

Simultaneously, a support for Trump's image has emerged from unusual quarters: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

It's remarkable: a photo reveals far more about those who chose it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people obsessed with malice and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", the official wrote on Telegram.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical used on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she said.

The answer to the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve creatively capturing a impression of strength says an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is well-executed," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their importance and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Even though the story’s headline marries well with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The news outlet approached Time magazine for a statement.