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This is a favorable story in a publication that Donald Trump has consistently praised – but for one catch. The cover picture, he stated, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's praise to the president's involvement in brokering a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was presented alongside a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun behind his head.

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

"The publication wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the image may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was a shape over my head that looked like a hovering crown, but extremely small. Very odd! I have never liked 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 no secret of his desire to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has reached Trump’s golf clubs – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

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

The perspective was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that the governor of California Gavin Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office tweeting a version with the criticized section obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal might turn into a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by unusual quarters: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to denounce the "damaging" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo reveals far more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", she shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for Time", she said.

The explanation for Trump’s questions – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a feeling of authority according to an imaging expert, a media professional.

The photograph technically is professionally taken," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look heroic. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks contemplative and almost slightly angelic. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. Although the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and while all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the appearance are not complimentary."

The Guardian contacted Time magazine for a statement.