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This is a favorable article in a publication that Trump has long exalted – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's tribute to Donald Trump's part in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was presented alongside a photo of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

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

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was a shape over my head that looked like a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it should be denounced. What is their goal, and why?”

The president has expressed obvious his ambition to feature on Time magazine's front page and did so four times last year. The preoccupation has made it as far as Trump’s golf clubs – previously, the publication requested to remove fake issues on display at several of his venues.

This issue's photograph was captured by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on October 5.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for Trump’s chin and neck – an opportunity that the governor of California Newsom seized, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the offending area obscured.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal might turn into a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it might signify a key shift for that part of the world.

At the same time, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to denounce the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photograph reveals far more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", she shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the case is self-damaging for the magazine", she said.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power says an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look heroic. Looking up at a person evokes a feeling of their importance and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It's uncommon you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair looks erased because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. And, while the article's title marries well with the president's look in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the appearance are not flattering."

The Guardian reached out to the periodical for a statement.