'The all-time low': Donald Trump lashes out at Time's 'super bad' cover photo.

This is a favorable article in a magazine that Trump has consistently praised – but for one catch. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Trump's role in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

The outcome, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on his preferred network.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an very tiny one. Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a extremely poor picture, and merits public condemnation. What are they doing, and why?”

The president has expressed obvious his ambition to be pictured on Time’s cover and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has reached the president's resorts – years ago, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers on display at several of his venues.

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

The perspective did no favours for his chin and neck area – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom seized, with his communications team posting a modified photo with the problematic part blurred.

{The Israeli captives held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement could be a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a key shift for the region.

At the same time, a defense of Trump's image has come from an unexpected source: the director of information at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to condemn the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who picked it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", the official posted on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she noted.

The explanation for the president's inquiries – what did the editors intend, and why? – might involve creatively capturing a feeling of authority stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look commanding. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their majesty and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she adds. And, while the feature's heading marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the appearance are not flattering."

The Guardian contacted Time magazine for a statement.