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This is a favorable story in a magazine that Donald Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The front-page image, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's tribute to the president's involvement in brokering a truce for Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a image of the president taken from below while the sun positioned behind him.

The effect, the president asserts, is "super bad".

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the image may be the lowest quality in history", he shared on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a floating crown, but quite miniature. Truly strange! I have always hated being photographed from below, but this is a awful image, and it deserves to be called out. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed obvious his ambition to appear on Time’s cover and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has extended to the president's resorts – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages on display at several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was captured by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The perspective highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – an opening that California governor Newsom seized, with his press office tweeting a version with the offending area pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal might turn into a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

At the same time, a defense of Trump's image has been offered by unusual quarters: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs stepped in to denounce the "damaging" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova wrote on the messaging platform.

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

The explanation for Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a impression of strength stated by Carly Earl, a media professional.

The photograph technically technically is good," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look commanding. Gazing upward creates an impression of their importance and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

His hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Although the story’s headline marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the person photographed."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The publication contacted the periodical for feedback.