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This is a glowing feature in a periodical that the president has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's paean to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was accompanied by a image of the president taken from below while the sun behind his head.

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

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was a shape over my head that looked like a floating crown, but very tiny. Really weird! I have never liked being photographed from below, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to feature on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has made it as far as his golf courses – previously, the publication requested to remove fake issues shown in several of his venues.

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

The perspective was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – a chance that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with the governor's office sharing an altered image with the problematic part pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement might turn into a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it may represent a pivotal moment for that part of the world.

At the same time, a support for the president’s appearance has come from a surprising origin: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to criticise the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who selected it than about the subject. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", she posted on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of President Biden that the same publication used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she added.

The response to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve innovatively depicting a sense of power according to a picture editor, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The image itself is well-executed," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look impressive. Gazing upward gives a sense of their importance and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see photos of Trump in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, generating a radiant circle, she adds. And, while the story’s headline marries well with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the appearance are not complimentary."

The publication contacted Time magazine for feedback.