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It is a favorable story in a magazine that Donald Trump has consistently praised – but for one catch. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's tribute to the president's involvement in facilitating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a image of the president shot from a low angle while the sun shining from the back.

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

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the image may be the most awful ever", the president posted on his preferred network.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but extremely small. Truly strange! I have never liked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it deserves to be called out. What is their goal, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to appear on Time magazine's front page and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The obsession has extended to the president's resorts – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

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

Its angle was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opportunity that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office sharing an altered image with the criticized section pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been liberated under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal may become a major success of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defence of Trump's image has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to condemn the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who chose it than about the person in it. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova shared on Telegram.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she noted.

The answer to his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a sense of power stated by an imaging expert, a media professional.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she says. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Even though the feature's heading pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and even if all of the artistic aspects of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for comment.