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

It is a glowing article in a periodical that the president has consistently praised – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's tribute to Trump's role in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a photograph of the president taken from below and with the sun behind his head.

The result, he says, is "super bad".

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his preferred network.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that looked like a suspended coronet, but an remarkably little one. Quite bizarre! I always disliked taking pictures from below viewpoints, but this is a extremely poor picture, and should be criticized. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to be pictured on Time’s cover and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has reached Trump’s golf clubs – in 2017, the editors demanded to remove mocked up covers on display at a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was captured by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

The perspective was unflattering to his chin and neck area – a chance that California governor Newsom took advantage of, with his press office sharing an altered image with the offending area obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement might turn into a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the region.

Simultaneously, a defense of Trump's image has come from a surprising origin: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to condemn the "revealing" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo says more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", the official shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the case is self-damaging for Time", she added.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve artistically representing a sense of power says Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their grandeur and his expression actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It's rare you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. Although the article's title complements his facial expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The Guardian reached out to the periodical for a statement.