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This is a positive article in a periodical that Donald Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's tribute to Trump's role in facilitating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was presented alongside a photograph of the president shot from a low angle while the sun shining from the back.

The result, he says, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on Truth Social.

“My hair was erased, and then there was a shape over my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but quite miniature. Truly strange! I have consistently disliked being shot from underneath, but this is a awful image, and it deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so four times last year. This fixation has reached Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the publication requested to remove fake issues shown in several of his venues.

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

The shot's viewpoint highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that California governor Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the criticized section pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. This agreement could be a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the region.

At the same time, a support for Trump's image has been offered by unusual quarters: the spokesperson at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to condemn the "damaging" picture decision.

It's remarkable: a image reveals far more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", she wrote on Telegram.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that the same publication featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she said.

The response to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a feeling of authority says a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically technically is good," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their importance and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, creating a halo effect, she says. Even though the article's title pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being captured from low angles, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The news outlet approached the magazine for comment.