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It is a glowing feature in a magazine that Donald Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to Trump's role in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a image of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

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

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", he shared on his social media platform.

“My hair was erased, and then there was a shape over my head that appeared as a floating crown, but quite miniature. Truly strange! I have always hated being shot from underneath, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has made it as far as Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages on display at some of his properties.

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

Its angle did no favours for his chin and neck area – an opportunity that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his press office posting a modified photo with the problematic part blurred.

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement might turn into a major success of Trump's second term, and it could mark a pivotal moment for that part of the world.

Simultaneously, a defence of his portrayal has emerged from unusual quarters: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "revealing" image choice.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and animosity –perhaps even perverts – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova shared on Telegram.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she noted.

The response to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority according to an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is professionally taken," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Gazing upward creates an impression of their importance and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the feature's heading complements Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the individual in question."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The publication approached the magazine for comment.