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This is a glowing feature in a periodical that Donald Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's tribute to the president's involvement in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photograph of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun behind his head.

The result, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the most awful ever", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but quite miniature. Very odd! I have never liked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has made it as far as the president's resorts – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove mocked up covers exhibited in some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

Its angle did no favours for Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Newsom seized, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the criticized section pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been liberated under the initial stage of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement might turn into a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a key shift for the region.

At the same time, a support for his portrayal has been offered by an unexpected source: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to criticise the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and animosity –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", the official shared on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that the periodical used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the case is self-damaging for the publication", she noted.

The answer to the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a impression of strength according to a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself is well-executed," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she explains. And, while the story’s headline pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and while all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for comment.