JPH1026814A - Color image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color image forming method by which the image blur arising at the time of forming images is suppressed by subjecting a photosensitive material to scanning exposure with a light beam. SOLUTION: The silver halide color photographic sensitive material is subjected to the scanning exposure with light beam modulated in accordance with image information, then to development processing in this image forming method. The photosensitive material has at least one layer of emulsion layers consisting of silver chloride particles or silver bromochloride particles having a silver chloride content of >=90mol% and contg. substantially no silver iodide as silver halide emulsion layers. The absolute value |f'(logE)|=|dL*/dlogE| of the differential function of L*=f(logE) when this scanning exposure is executed up to L*=5 to 90 by continuously changing the exposure of the light beam until the print after processing attains the range of a*=±3, b*=±3 of a CIE 1976 L*a*b* chromaticity diagram in the continuous tone image information of gray has one maximal value and satisfies the equation |f'(logE)|<=|f'(2 logEm-logE)|, where logE is the logarithm of the exposure (logE>=logEm+0.2) and logEm is the logarithm of the exposure to yield the maximal value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color image forming method for forming an image by scanning and exposing a silver halide color photographic material with a light beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent advances in computer technology have made it possible to process (image processing) an image read by a scanner on a computer screen, and to produce an image intended by the user relatively easily. When hard-copying this image, a digital exposure apparatus including a semiconductor laser, a light-emitting diode, and the like is often used. Since the digital exposure apparatus can scan and expose a photosensitive material in a short time, it is characterized in that the exposure speed can be increased. In response to the demand for higher image quality, studies have been made on the use of silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials, and image formation by a digital scanning exposure method has been performed. As an image forming method by a known scanning exposure method,
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-21305 discloses a method of performing scanning exposure on a photographic material using a light emitting diode as a light source. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-35352 discloses scanning exposure of a high silver chloride photographic material with a laser beam. JP-A-63-18346 discloses a scanning exposure method using a second harmonic obtained by using a semiconductor laser and an SHG element as a light source.

In the case of exposing a photosensitive material by scanning and exposing a light beam generated from the light emitting diode or the semiconductor laser, the light beam is generally scanned by a raster scanning method. According to such an exposure method, a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material can be digitally exposed to obtain a full-color image. Furthermore, with the development of laser diodes in recent years, a simple and stable laser output device can be manufactured, and an image forming system using the laser output device is being put to practical use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,8
No. 92 or 4,956,702 discloses the use of a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material having a sensitivity maximum in an infrared region as an output light-sensitive material using a laser diode as a light source. On the other hand, silver halide photographic materials
In recent years, with the development of high silver chloride emulsion technology, application to the field of recording digital information has become possible. As such a technique, for example, International Publication WO87 / 04534
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-229, the total image forming time is shortened by using high silver chloride as the silver halide of the photosensitive material.

However, when an image is formed by these methods, there is a problem that image bleeding easily occurs. For example, when drawing a character image, fine characters cannot be drawn, or a stripe pattern is blackened. Edited by THJames, "T
he Theory of the Photographic Process "4th edition, 58th edition
Page 0 describes a method for preventing this image blurring (irradiation). This is a method in which a dye or colloidal silver is contained in a coating layer or a support to prevent halation, thereby preventing image bleeding, and is generally the most useful method. However, as the amount of the dye is increased, the effect of the improvement is increased, but the photographic sensitivity of the photosensitive material is remarkably reduced, and further, there is a problem that the color of the dye is likely to reach a white background. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-158847, it has been found that the color density unevenness generated during scanning exposure is affected by the gradation of a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material. The average value of the point gamma at each point in the area is 1.0 to 3.0, and the fluctuation range is within ± 20% of the average value of the point gamma in the exposure area. A method of eliminating color density unevenness by an image forming method of performing scanning exposure with a light source is disclosed. But,
This method did not provide any improvement in image bleeding. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-36247 discloses a method of improving the tone reproducibility of details of a shadow portion by defining a point gamma in a high density portion. However, although this method is somewhat improved with respect to image bleeding, it is not practical.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a color image forming method which suppresses image bleeding which occurs when an image is formed by scanning and exposing a photosensitive material with a light beam. .

[0006]

As a result of intensive studies by the present inventors, the above object has been effectively achieved by the following color image forming methods (1) to (5). (1) In an image forming method, a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material having at least one silver halide emulsion layer on a support is subjected to scanning exposure with a light beam modulated based on image information, followed by development processing, The silver halide emulsion layer has at least one silver halide emulsion layer composed of silver chloride grains or silver chlorobromide grains substantially free of silver iodide having a silver chloride content of 90 mol% or more. The continuous tone image information is continuously exposed to the light beam so that the processed print is in the range of a ^* = ± 3, b ^* = ± 3 in the CIE 1976 L ^* a ^* b ^* chromaticity diagram. The absolute value of the differential function of L ^* = f (logE) when scanning and exposing from L ^* = 5 to 90 instead of f ^* (logE) | =
| DL ^* / dlogE | has one maximum value, and scan-exposes and develops a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material satisfying the following formula (A): Formula (A) | f ′ (logE) | ≦ | f ′ (2logEm−logE) | logE: logarithm of exposure amount (however, logE ≧ logEm + 0.2) logEm: logarithm of exposure amount which gives the maximum value described above (2 The color image forming method according to (1), wherein an effective beam diameter when the photosensitive material is scanned and exposed by the light beam is 200 μm or less. (3) Function of the absolute value of the derivative of L ^* = f (logE) | f '(logE) | =
The color image forming method as described in (1) or (2), wherein the maximum value of | dL * / dlogE | is 80 to 140. (4) The scanning exposure by the light beam is 10 ^-4 per pixel.
(1) characterized in that it is a short exposure time of less than seconds.
The color image forming method according to the above (2) or (3). (5) The color image forming method according to (1), (2), (3) or (4), wherein the light beam is a visible light beam. (6) The silver halide grains in the silver halide emulsion layer are gold-sensitized (1), (2),
(3) The color image forming method according to (4) or (5). A gray continuous tone image means one in which the energies of the blue, green and red light beams change continuously at the same rate.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Scanning exposure will be described first.
The effective beam diameter in the present invention is described in JP-A-5-1942.
It can be determined in exactly the same manner as described in the lower left column of page 3, page 4.
That is, one line segment is exposed to a photosensitive material using a laser beam having an output of 50% of the laser beam intensity sufficient to give the highest color density in the image to be formed, and the color development process is performed. To obtain a linear colored image. The density profile of this color image is measured in the vertical direction of the line using a microdensitometer. Maximum density Dma of this profile
The effective beam diameter is defined as the line width of the density D1 / 5 corresponding to 1/5 of x. The effective beam diameter in the scanning exposure of the present invention is 200 μm or less, preferably 10 μm to 180 μm.
μm, and more preferably 20 μm to 150 μm.
The shape of the light beam in the scanning exposure is not particularly limited. The diameter of the light beam refers to the diameter of the peripheral portion where the intensity of the cross section perpendicular to the light beam decreases to 1 / e ² (about 13.5%) of the intensity on the central axis (see FIG. 1). In the scanning exposure applied in the present invention, the diameter of the light beam is not particularly limited as long as it satisfies the range of the effective beam diameter, but is 200 μm or less, preferably 10 μm to 150 μm, more preferably. , 20 μm to 100 μm.

[0008] The scanning pitch in the scanning exposure is defined by the interval of the raster (trajectory of the light beam), and when the light beam is a circle, it is expressed by the center of the beam. In the present invention, the effective beam diameter is preferably larger than the image scanning pitch. Specifically, in the following formula, the overlap width between rasters has the relationship of the following formula. L: overlap width, d: effective beam diameter, p: scanning pitch L = d−p According to the above equation, the scanning pitch of the present invention is 0.25 μm to 1
90 μm is preferred, and 2 μm to 80 μm is most preferred. Further, the overlap width between rasters is not particularly limited in the present invention, but is in the range of 5% to 95% of the effective beam diameter, preferably 15% in order to prevent image unevenness and color skipping. ~ 85%, more preferably 20% ~ 80
% Range.

In the light beam scanning, a photosensitive material is wound around a cylindrical drum, and the main scanning is performed by rotating the photosensitive material at a high speed, and the sub-scanning is performed by gradually moving a light source in the axial direction of the cylinder. The so-called drum scanning can also be performed, but main scanning is performed by irradiating a light beam onto a high-speed rotating polygonal mirror surface (polygon mirror), and sub-scanning is performed by moving the photosensitive material in a direction perpendicular to this. Is more preferable. The number of surfaces of the polygon mirror is not particularly limited, but is preferably 2 to 36, and particularly preferably 6 to 14. The stable rotation speed of the polygon mirror is preferably in the range of 4000 to 36000 rpm. By multiplying the number of rotations by the number of mirror surfaces, the number of scanning lines per time can be calculated.

As a means for generating a light beam, various known light sources can be used. In the present invention, a remarkable effect is obtained when a high illuminance light source such as a semiconductor laser, a gas laser, or a light emitting diode is used. Also, a semiconductor laser is used to make the system more compact and inexpensive, or a second harmonic generation light source (a semiconductor laser or a combination of a solid-state laser using a semiconductor laser as an excitation light source and a nonlinear optical crystal) is used. It is preferred to use (SHG). Particularly, in order to design an apparatus which is compact, inexpensive, has a long life, and has high stability, it is preferable to use a semiconductor laser, and it is preferable to use a semiconductor laser as at least one of the exposure light sources. The wavelength of the light beam in the present invention can be arbitrarily set according to the spectral maximum of the photosensitive material. In addition, the exposure time per pixel in the present invention is preferably 10 ⁻⁴ seconds or less,
^-6 seconds or less are more preferable.

When the above-described scanning exposure light source is used, the spectral sensitivity maximum of the photosensitive material of the present invention can be set by the wavelength of the scanning exposure light source used. It is particularly preferable that the spectral sensitivity maximum of the light-sensitive material of the present invention is in the visible region of blue, green, and red in view of handleability of the light-sensitive material and commonality with general light-sensitive materials. A solid laser using a semiconductor laser as an excitation light source or an SHG light source obtained by combining a semiconductor laser with a nonlinear optical crystal can halve the laser oscillation wavelength, so that blue light and green light can be obtained. Therefore, the spectral sensitivity maximum of the photosensitive material is normal blue, green,
It is possible to have it in the three red areas. The maximum color density of the light-sensitive material of the present invention, which has been developed after scanning exposure with the light beam, is not particularly limited,
It is preferably from 2.0 to 3.0, and more preferably from 2.1 to 3.0.
2.8.

In the light-sensitive material used in the present invention, the range of L ^* when the exposure amount of the light beam is continuously changed based on image information is 5 to 90, preferably 7 to 85. CI
E For details on the color system, see JIS standard Z8729 L ^* a
^* b ^* This is as described in the method of displaying object colors using the color system. The relationship between the density (D) obtained according to the logarithmically increasing exposure (E) is generally called "characteristic curve" and is commonly used in the art and is an important index for evaluating photographic performance. . For this, see THJames, "The The
ory of the Photographic Process "4th edition, 501-50
See page 9 for details. A method of improving the tone reproducibility of an obtained image by devising the shape of the “characteristic curve” has been widely known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-36).
247). However, the present inventor has adopted lightness (L ^* ) having a substantially equal rate for human perception than density (D) in order to improve blurring of an image. The meaning of the formula (A) will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, in the L ^* -logE curve obtained by plotting the photographic material with logE (E is the exposure amount) on the horizontal axis and L ^* (brightness) on the vertical axis, L ^* = f (log
The absolute value | f ′ (logE) | = | dL ^* / dlogE | of the differential function of E) is determined as shown in FIG. The differential curve in FIG. 3 has one maximum value. Further, the differential curve is obtained by comparing the logarithm of the exposure amount giving the maximum value with an exposure amount larger than 0.2 (logE ≧ logEm + 0.2
) In the range of an exposure (logE ≦ logEm) smaller than the exposure that gives the maximum value,
gE = logEm and a line drawn symmetrically (| f '(2logEm-log
E) It is characterized by being smaller than or equivalent to |). Here, the light beam exposure amount is a value obtained by integrating the energy per unit area of all the light beams irradiated on the photosensitive material with the irradiation time.

The maximum value of the differential curve is preferably 80 to
140, and more preferably 100 to 130. Means for achieving the formula (A) is not particularly limited. For example, the blending ratio of emulsions having different emulsion grain sizes may be adjusted.
Examples include adjusting the size difference between the emulsion grains to be blended, adjusting the amount of the emulsion to be coated, adjusting the grain size distribution in forming the emulsion grains, and adjusting the amount or position of metal doping in forming the emulsion grains. In the present invention,
As the silver halide emulsion used in the photosensitive emulsion layer,
It is preferable to use a material which is substantially free of silver iodide and contains silver chloride or silver chlorobromide having a silver chloride content of 90 mol% or more, which is suitable for rapid processing. Here, "contains substantially no silver iodide" means that the silver iodide content is 1 mol% or less, preferably 0.2% or less. In the present invention, the silver chloride content of the high silver chloride emulsion is preferably at least 95 mol%.

In the silver halide grains of the present invention, the periodic table
A group VIII metal, that is, an ion of a metal selected from osmium, iridium, rhodium, platinum, ruthenium, palladium, cobalt, nickel, and iron or a complex ion thereof can be used alone or in combination. Further, a plurality of these metals may be used. The amount of the Group VIII metal to be used is preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁹ to 1 × 10 ⁻² mol per mol of Ag, more preferably 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ to 1 × 10 ⁻³ mol. The above-mentioned metal ion-providing compound was added to a gelatin aqueous solution, a halide aqueous solution, a silver salt aqueous solution, or another aqueous solution which was used as a dispersion medium at the time of forming silver halide grains, or a metal ion was previously contained. The silver halide grains of the present invention can be incorporated into the silver halide grains of the present invention by adding silver halide grains in the form of fine silver halide grains and dissolving the fine grains. The metal ions can be contained in the particles before, during or immediately after the formation of the particles. It can be changed depending on whether or not it is contained.

In the silver halide grains of the present invention, 50 mol% or more (preferably 70 mol% or more, more preferably 90 mol% or more, further preferably 100 mol%) of the metal ion providing compound used is halogen. It is preferably localized in the surface layer or surface phase up to 45% or less of the grain volume from the silver halide grain surface. The volume of this surface layer or surface phase is preferably at most 30%, more preferably at most 20%. When the surface layer or surface phase in which the metal ions are localized has a volume as small as possible, it is advantageous for suppressing an increase in internal sensitivity and obtaining high sensitivity. In order to concentrate the metal ion-providing compound in the surface layer or the surface phase of such silver halide grains, for example, after forming the silver halide grains (core) in a portion excluding the surface layer or the surface phase, the surface layer is formed. Alternatively, it can be carried out by supplying a metal ion providing compound in accordance with the addition of a water-soluble silver salt solution and a halide aqueous solution for forming a surface phase.

The silver halide grains of the present invention are preferably provided with a silver bromide-rich phase. The silver bromide-rich phase of the silver halide grains of the present invention has a silver bromide-rich phase near the top of the grains. It is preferable to form at least 10 mol% or more of a localized phase by epitaxial growth with respect to the total silver bromide content therein. In the present invention, the term “near the vertex” preferably refers to a projected cube or a salt (odor) of a normal crystal similar to a cube.
The length of one side of the diameter of a circle having the same area as the area of the silver halide particle, more preferably 1/5, is defined as one side, and the vertex of the particle (intersection of the cubic or the ridge of the normal crystal grain regarded as a cubic)
Is an area of a square having one corner as a corner. The total content of silver bromide in the silver bromide rich phase is preferably at least 10 mol%, but if the silver bromide content is too high, desensitization may occur when pressure is applied to the light-sensitive material, Variations in the composition of the processing solution may impart undesired characteristics to the photographic material, such as a significant change in sensitivity and gradation. Taking these points into consideration, the silver bromide content of the silver bromide-rich phase is preferably in the range of 10 to 60 mol%, most preferably in the range of 20 to 50 mol%. The silver bromide content of the silver bromide-rich phase can be analyzed using an X-ray diffraction method (for example, described in “New Experimental Chemical Account 6, Structural Analysis”, edited by The Chemical Society of Japan). . The silver bromide-rich phase is preferably composed of silver in an amount of 0.1 to 5 mol% of the total silver constituting the silver halide grains of the present invention, and composed of 0.3 to 4 mol% of silver. More preferably, it is performed.

As is well known, the steps of preparing a silver halide emulsion in the present invention include a step of forming silver halide grains by a reaction between a water-soluble silver salt and a water-soluble halide, a step of desalting, and a step of chemical ripening. Consisting of The application of the silver bromide-rich phase in the present invention is preferably prior to the chemical ripening step, more preferably prior to the desalting step, particularly after the formation of the silver halide host grains. It is preferable to be performed. The rich phase of silver bromide preferably contains a Group VIII metal complex ion such as IrCl ₆ ^2- . When an iridium compound is contained in the silver bromide rich phase of the silver halide emulsion grains, the rich phase is preferably deposited together with at least 50 mol% of the total iridium added during the preparation of the silver halide grains. More preferably, the rich phase is deposited with at least 80 mol% of the total iridium added, most preferably with the total iridium added. Here, to deposit the rich phase together with iridium means to supply the iridium compound simultaneously with, just before, or immediately after the supply of silver or halogen for forming the rich phase. When a silver bromide-rich phase is formed by mixing silver halide fine grains having a smaller average grain size than the silver halide host grains and having a high silver bromide content and then ripening, the silver bromide content It is preferred that the iridium salt is previously contained in the silver halide fine grains having a high content.

The silver halide grains used in the present invention may have (100) planes, (111) planes, or both on the outer surface. Or a higher order plane may be included, but a cube mainly composed of a (100) plane,
Alternatively, a tetrahedron is preferred. The size of the silver halide grains of the present invention may be within the range usually used,
It is preferable that the average particle size is 0.1 μm to 1.5 μm. The particle size distribution may be polydisperse or monodisperse, but is preferably monodisperse. The particle size variation coefficient representing the degree of monodispersion is preferably 0.2 or less, more preferably 0.15 or less, in the ratio (s / d) of the standard deviation (s) and the average particle size (d) in statistics. preferable. It is also preferable to use a mixture of two or more monodisperse emulsions.

The shape of the silver halide grains may be cubic or 14
Regular like octahedron besides face
Those having a crystal form, those having an irregular crystal form such as a sphere, a plate, or the like, or those having a composite form thereof can be used. Further, it may be composed of a mixture of those having various crystal forms. In the present invention, among these, the particles having the regular crystal form are contained in an amount of 50% by weight or more, preferably 70% by weight or more, and more preferably 90% by weight or more. In addition to the grains having a regular crystal form, tabular grains having an average aspect ratio (diameter / circle diameter in circle) of 5 or more, preferably 8 or more, have a projected area of 50% by weight or more of all grains. Emulsions can also be preferably used. The silver chlorobromide emulsion used in the present invention is P.Gl
afkides, Chimie et Phisique Photographique (Paul
Montel, 1967), Photographic by GFDuffin
Emulsion Chemistry (Focal Press, 1966), V.
Making and Coating Photographi by L. Zelikman et al
c It can be prepared using the method described in Emulsion (Focal Press, 1964). That is, any of an acidic method, a neutral method, an ammonia method and the like may be used, and a method of reacting a soluble silver salt and a soluble halide may be any method such as a one-sided mixing method, a simultaneous mixing method, and a combination thereof. May be used. Method of forming particles in an atmosphere containing excess silver ions (so-called reverse mixing method)
Can also be used. As one type of the double jet method, a method of maintaining a constant pAg in a liquid phase in which silver halide is formed, that is, a so-called controlled double jet method can be used. According to this method, a silver halide emulsion having a regular crystal form and a nearly uniform grain size can be obtained.

The silver halide emulsion used in the present invention is:
In addition to the Group VIII metal, various polyvalent metal ion impurities can be introduced during the process of emulsion grain formation or physical ripening. As an example of the compound to be used, a salt of cadmium, zinc, lead, copper, thallium or the like, or a complex salt can be used in combination. The addition amount of these compounds varies widely depending on the purpose, but is preferably from 10 ^-9 to 10 ^-2 mol per mol of silver halide. The silver halide emulsion used in the present invention is usually subjected to chemical sensitization and spectral sensitization. Regarding the chemical sensitization method, sulfur sensitization represented by addition of an unstable sulfur compound, noble metal sensitization represented by gold sensitization, reduction sensitization, or the like can be used alone or in combination. As the compounds used for chemical sensitization, those described in JP-A-62-215272, page 18, lower right column to page 22, upper right column are preferably used.

The silver halide emulsion used in the present invention is preferably subjected to gold sensitization known in the art. This is because, by performing gold sensitization, fluctuations in photographic performance when scanning exposure is performed with a laser beam or the like can be further reduced. For gold sensitization, compounds such as chloroauric acid or a salt thereof, gold thiocyanates or gold thiosulfates can be used. The addition amount of these compounds can vary widely depending on the case, but is from 5 × 10 ^{-7 to} 5 × 10 ^-3 mol, preferably 1 × 1 ^-7 mol per mol of silver halide.
It is 0 ^-6 to 1 × 10 ^-4 mol. These compounds are added until the chemical sensitization used in the present invention is completed. In the present invention, it is also preferable to combine gold sensitization with other sensitization methods, for example, sulfur sensitization, selenium sensitization, tellurium sensitization, reduction sensitization, or noble metal sensitization using a compound other than a gold compound.

In the photographic material according to the present invention, the hydrophilic colloid layer can be decolorized by photographic processing described in EP 0,337,490 A2, pp. 27-76, for the purpose of improving the sharpness and the like of the image. It is preferable to add a dye (especially an oxonol dye) so that the optical reflection density at 680 nm of the photosensitive material is 0.50 or more. In the present invention, instead of the water-soluble dye or in combination with the water-soluble dye, a colored layer that can be decolorized by treatment is used. The colored layer that can be decolorized by the treatment may be in direct contact with the emulsion layer, or may be disposed so as to be in contact with the emulsion layer via an intermediate layer containing a treatment color mixture inhibitor such as gelatin or hydroquinone. This colored layer is preferably provided below the emulsion layer (on the side of the support) that develops the same primary color as the colored color. It is possible to install all the colored layers corresponding to each primary color individually, or to arbitrarily select and install only a part of them. Further, it is also possible to provide a colored layer which is colored corresponding to a plurality of primary color gamuts. Regarding the optical reflection density of the colored layer, it is preferable that the optical density value at the wavelength having the highest optical density also in the wavelength of the light source color used for scanning exposure is 0.2 or more and 3.0 or less. More preferably, 0.5 or more and 2.5 or less, especially 0.8 or more and 2.0 or less
The following is preferred.

As the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material used in the present invention, other conventionally known photographic materials and additives can be used. For example, a transmissive support or a reflective support can be used as a photographic support. As the transmission type support, a transparent film such as a cellulose nitrate film or polyethylene terephthalate,
-A material in which an information recording layer such as a magnetic layer is provided on a polyester of naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NDCA) and ethylene glycol (EG) or a polyester of NDCA, terephthalic acid and EG is preferably used. As the reflective support, a reflective support laminated with a plurality of polyethylene layers or polyester layers, and containing a white pigment such as titanium oxide in at least one of such water-resistant resin layers (laminated layers) is preferable. Further, it is preferable that the water-resistant resin layer contains a fluorescent whitening agent. The fluorescent whitening agent may be dispersed in the hydrophilic colloid layer of the light-sensitive material. As the optical brightener, preferably a benzoxazole-based,
Coumarin-based and pyrazoline-based fluorescent whitening agents can be used, and benzoxazolylnaphthalene-based and benzooxazolylstilbene-based fluorescent whitening agents are more preferred. The amount used is not particularly limited, but is preferably 1 to 100 mg /
m ² . The mixing ratio when mixed with the water-resistant resin is preferably 0.0005 to 3% by weight with respect to the resin,
More preferably, the content is 0.001 to 0.5% by weight.

The reflective support may be a transmissive support or a reflective support as described above, on which a hydrophilic colloid layer containing a white pigment is applied. Further, the reflective support may be a support having a mirror-reflective or second-class diffuse-reflective metal surface. The above-mentioned reflective support, silver halide emulsion, different metal ion species doped in silver halide grains, storage stabilizer or antifoggant of silver halide emulsion, chemical sensitization method (sensitizer) , Spectral sensitization (spectral sensitizer), cyan, magenta,
Table 1 shows yellow couplers and their emulsifying dispersion methods, color image preservability improvers (anti-stain agents and anti-fading agents), dyes (colored layers), gelatin species, layer composition of photosensitive materials, coating pH of photosensitive materials, and the like. Patents 2 to 2 can be preferably applied to the present invention.

[0025]

[Table 1]

[0026]

[Table 2]

The cyan, magenta and yellow couplers which can be used in the present invention include those described in JP-A-62-21.
No. 5272, page 91, upper right column, line 4 to page 121, upper left column 6
Line 3, page 14 upper right column, line 14 to page 18, upper left column last line and page 30, upper right column, line 6 to page 35 lower right column, line 11 of JP-A-2-33144, EP 0355,660A2. Page 4, lines 15 to 27, page 30, line 30 to end of page 28, 4
Page 5, lines 29 to 31, page 47, lines 23 to 63, page 50
The couplers described in the line are also useful. As the antibacterial and antifungal agents that can be used in the present invention, those described in JP-A-63-271247 are useful.

Preferred scanning exposure methods applicable to the present invention are described in detail in the patents listed in the above table. For processing the photosensitive material according to the present invention,
JP-A-2-207250, page 26, lower right column, lines 1 to 3
Page 4, upper right column, ninth line, and JP-A-4-97355 No. 5
The processing materials and processing methods described in the upper left column of the page, line 17 to the lower right column of page 18, line 20 can be preferably applied. As the preservative used in this developer, the compounds described in the patents listed in the above table are preferably used.

The method of developing the photosensitive material used in the present invention after exposure is, for example, a conventional method of developing with a developing solution containing an alkali agent and a color developing agent, and a method of developing a color developing agent (color-forming reducing agent). And developing with an activator solution such as an alkaline solution containing no developing agent. In particular, since the activator processing method does not include a color developing agent in the processing liquid, it is easy to manage and handle the processing liquid, and the load of waste liquid processing is small, which is a preferable method in terms of environmental protection. is there. In the activator processing method, a photosensitive material containing a color developing agent or its precursor is used. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-63572,
7-334190, 7-334192, 7-
A photosensitive material containing a hydrazine compound as a color developing agent described in JP-A-334197 and JP-A-7-344396 is preferred. Further, a method of amplifying (intensifying) an image of a light-sensitive material having a low silver content using hydrogen peroxide is also preferably used,
For example, an image forming method using an activator liquid containing hydrogen peroxide described in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 7-63582 and 7-334202 is preferably used.

Although desilvering is usually performed after the activator processing, desilvering processing is not required in the image amplification processing using a low silver content photosensitive material. Therefore, after the activator processing, washing or stabilization processing is performed. Simple processing is preferred. Also, in the method of reading image information with a scanner etc. as shooting material,
Even when a photosensitive material having a high silver content is used, a processing form that does not require desilvering processing is possible. Regarding the processing materials and methods of the activator solution, desilvering solution, washing and stabilizing solution used in the present invention, refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 7-63572, Research Disclosure Item 36544 (1994).
September, pp. 536-541. Also,
In the image forming method of the present invention, as an apparatus for performing exposure and processing from reading of image information, JP-A-8-16
No. 238, pp. 5-12 and FIGS. 1-2 are preferably used. In particular, it is preferable to use an acousto-optic element which is well known in the art for modulating the intensity of a light beam in an image recording unit and which is easily available.

[0031]

【Example】

 Example 1

(Preparation of Emulsion NL-B) 32.0 g of lime-processed gelatin was added to 1000 cc of distilled water, dissolved at 40 ° C., adjusted to pH 3.8 with sulfuric acid, and 5.5 g of sodium chloride and N, 0.02 g of N'-dimethylimidazolidin-2-thione was added and the temperature was raised to 66C.
Subsequently, a solution obtained by dissolving 5.0 g of silver nitrate in 140 cc of distilled water and a solution obtained by dissolving 1.7 g of sodium chloride in 140 cc of distilled water were added to the above solution at 66 ° C. with vigorous stirring. Next, 90.0 g of silver nitrate was added to 228 cc of distilled water.
And 31.0 g of sodium chloride in distilled water 22
The solution dissolved in 8 cc was added and mixed at 66 ° C. with vigorous stirring. Further, 25.0 g of silver nitrate was added to 92 cc of distilled water.
8.6 g of sodium chloride solution and distilled water 92 c
The liquid dissolved in c was added and mixed at 66 ° C. with vigorous stirring. After desalting and washing at 40 ° C., 76.0 g of lime-processed gelatin was added, and the pAg was adjusted to 7.9 and the pH was adjusted to 6.2 with sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide.
Was adjusted. After the temperature was raised to 50 ° C., 2.0 × 10 ⁻⁴ mol of each of blue sensitizing dyes A and B shown below were added per mol of silver halide, and sulfur sensitization was performed using triethylurea. gave. The obtained silver chloride emulsion was added to Emulsion NL-
B. The particle shape, particle size and coefficient of variation were determined from the electron micrograph. The particle size was represented by the average value of the diameter of a circle equivalent to the projected area of the particle, and the coefficient of variation used was a value obtained by dividing the standard deviation of the particle size by the average particle size. Emulsion NL-B has a grain size of 0.90 μm and a coefficient of variation of 0.
09 cubic particles.

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(Preparation of Emulsion NS-B) In the method for preparing emulsion NL-B, an emulsion having an average grain size of 0.64 μm was prepared by changing the temperature during the formation of silver halide emulsion grains and the rate of addition of the reaction solution. A silver chloride emulsion differing only in the preparation was prepared, and this was designated as emulsion NS-B.

(Preparation of Emulsion NL-G) In the method of preparing emulsion NL-B, an emulsion having an average grain size of 0.45 μm was obtained by changing the temperature during the formation of silver halide emulsion grains and the rate of addition of the reaction solution. The silver chloride emulsion prepared and spectrally sensitized by substituting the following green photosensitive spectral sensitizing dyes C and D was designated as Emulsion NL-G.

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(Preparation of Emulsion NS-G) In the emulsion NL-G emulsion preparation method, an emulsion having an average grain size of 0.35 μm was obtained by changing the temperature during the formation of silver halide emulsion grains and the rate of addition of the reaction solution. A silver chloride emulsion differing only in the preparation was prepared, and this was designated as emulsion NS-G.

(Preparation of Emulsion NL-R) In the emulsion NL-G emulsion preparation method, an emulsion having an average grain size of 0.55 μm was prepared by changing the temperature during the formation of silver halide emulsion grains and the rate of addition of the reaction solution. The silver chloride emulsion prepared and further subjected to spectral sensitization by substituting the following red-sensitive spectral sensitizing dye was used as Emulsion NL-R.

[0039]

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The following compounds were added to the red-sensitive emulsion in an amount of 2.6 × 10 ^-3 mol per mol of silver halide.

[0041]

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(Preparation of Emulsion NS-R) In the emulsion NL-R emulsion preparation method, an emulsion having an average grain size of 0.40 μm was prepared by changing the temperature during the formation of silver halide emulsion grains and the rate of addition of the reaction solution. A silver chloride emulsion differing only in the preparation was prepared, and this was designated as emulsion NS-R.

(Preparation of Emulsion DL-B and Emulsion DS-B) In the emulsion preparation method of Emulsion NL-B or NS-B, a third addition of an aqueous solution of silver nitrate and an aqueous solution of sodium chloride was carried out based on one mole of silver halide. 5 × 10 ^-5 moles of K ₃ F
An aqueous solution containing e (CN) ₆ was added at the same time to perform spectral sensitization and chemical sensitization.
A monodispersed silver bromide emulsion containing ^-5 mol of dipotassium hexachloride iridate (IV) in an amount of 0.5 mol% as silver halide
Emulsions DL-B and DS-B were added to the emulsions.
And Emulsion DL-B or DS-B did not differ from emulsion NL-B or NS-B in grain shape, grain size, and variation coefficient.

(Preparation of Emulsion DL-G and Emulsion DS-G) In the emulsion preparation method of Emulsion NL-G or Emulsion NS-G, the same amount of K was added during the third addition of the aqueous silver nitrate solution and the aqueous sodium chloride solution. ₃ Fe (CN) ₆ were simultaneously added an aqueous solution containing, when subjected to spectral sensitization and chemical sensitization, monodispersed silver bromide emulsion containing hexachloroiridate (IV) dipotassium the same amount Is 0.5 mol% as silver halide
Emulsions DL-G and DS-G were added to correspondingly added emulsions.
And Emulsion DL-G or DS-G did not differ from emulsion NL-G or NS-G in grain shape, grain size, and coefficient of variation. (Preparation of emulsion DL-R and emulsion DS-R)

In the method for preparing the emulsion NL-R or the emulsion NS-R, an aqueous solution containing K ₃ Fe (CN) ₆ was added simultaneously when the _third aqueous solution of silver nitrate and the aqueous solution of sodium chloride were added, and spectral sensitization was performed. When chemical sensitization was carried out, a monodispersed silver bromide emulsion containing dipotassium hexachloride (IV) was added to the emulsion DL-R and emulsion DS, respectively, in an amount corresponding to 0.5 mol% as silver halide. -R. Emulsion DL-R or emulsion DS-R is the same as emulsion NL-R or emulsion NS-R in terms of grain shape, grain size, and variation coefficient.
Did not change. Among these emulsions, emulsion DL-
B, emulsion DL-G and emulsion DL-R, X
Analysis of the halogen composition by the X-ray diffraction method revealed that, in addition to the main peak of 100 mol% of silver chloride, the silver bromide content was 30 to 30 mol%.
A secondary peak corresponding to 40% was observed, indicating that these emulsion grains had a silver bromide rich phase.

After a corona discharge treatment was applied to the surface of the paper support laminated on both sides with polyethylene, a gelatin subbing layer containing sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate was provided, and various photographic constituent layers were further applied. A multilayer color photographic paper (101) having the above configuration was produced. The coating solution was prepared as follows. Preparation of First Layer Coating Solution 122.0 g of yellow coupler (ExY), 15.4 g of color image stabilizer (Cpd-1), color image stabilizer (Cpd-2)
7.5 g, 16.7 g of color image stabilizer (Cpd-3) are dissolved in 44 g of solvent (Solv-1) and 180 cc of ethyl acetate, and this solution contains 86 cc of 10% sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate and 10 g of citric acid. An emulsified dispersion was prepared by emulsifying and dispersing in 1000 g of a 10% aqueous gelatin solution. This emulsified dispersion and the above emulsion NL-B, emulsion NS
-B was mixed and dissolved to prepare a coating solution for the first layer having the composition shown below. The emulsion coating amount indicates a coating amount in terms of silver amount.

The coating solutions for the second to seventh layers were prepared in the same manner as the coating solution for the first layer. As a gelatin hardener for each layer, 1-oxy-3,5-dichloro-s-triazine sodium salt was used. In addition, Cpd-12, Cp
the total amount d-13, Cpd-14 and Cpd-15, respectively is ^{15.0mg / m 2, 60.0mg / m} 2, was added to a 5.0 mg / m ² and 10.0 mg / m ^2. In addition, the blue-sensitive layer, green-sensitive emulsion layer, and red-sensitive emulsion layer
-(5-methylureidophenyl) -5-mercaptotetrazole was added in an amount of 3.3 per mole of silver halide.
× 10 ^-4 mol, 1.0 × 10 ^-3 mol and 5.9 × 10 ^-4 mol
Mole was added. Furthermore, 0.2 mg / m ² , 0.2 mg / m ² , 0.6 mg / m ² ,
mg / m ² , and 0.1 mg / m ² . Further, 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-1,3,3a, 7-tetrazaindene was added to the blue-sensitive emulsion layer and the green-sensitive emulsion layer in an amount of 1 × 10 ^-4 and 2 × 10 ^-4 per mol of silver halide, respectively. ×
10 ^-4 mol was added.

(Constituent Layer) The composition of each layer is shown below. The numbers represent the coating amount (g / m ² ). The silver halide emulsion represents a coating amount in terms of silver. Support polyethylene laminated paper [white pigment (TiO ₂ 15 wt.
%) And a bluish dye (ultramarine)] First layer (blue-sensitive emulsion layer) Silver chloride emulsion NL-B 0.12 Silver chloride emulsion NS-B 0.12 Gelatin 1.33 Yellow coupler (Ex- Y) 0.61 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-1) 0.08 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-2) 0.04 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-3) 0.08 Solvent (Solv-1) 0.22

Second layer (color mixture prevention layer) Gelatin 1.09 Color mixture prevention agent (Cpd-4) 0.11 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-16) 0.15 Solvent (Solv-1) 0.07 Solvent (Solv) -2) 0.25 Solvent (Solv-7) 0.01

Third layer (green-sensitive emulsion layer) Silver chloride emulsion NL-G 0.06 Silver chloride emulsion NS-G 0.06 Gelatin 1.19 Magenta coupler (Ex-M) 0.12 Ultraviolet absorber ( UV-1) 0.12 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-2) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-4) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-5) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd- 6) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-8) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-16) 0.08 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-18) 0.0001 Solvent (Solv-4) 0.20 Solvent (Solv-5) 0.11 Solvent (Solv-9) 0.19

Fourth layer (color mixture prevention layer) Gelatin 0.77 Color mixture prevention agent (Cpd-4) 0.08 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-16) 0.11 Solvent (Solv-1) 0.05 Solvent (Solv) -2) 0.18 Solvent (Solv-7) 0.01

Fifth layer (red-sensitive emulsion layer) Silver chloride emulsion NL-R 0.09 Silver chloride emulsion NS-R 0.09 Gelatin 0.80 Cyan coupler (Ex-C) 0.28 Ultraviolet absorber ( UV-3) 0.19 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-1) 0.24 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-6) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-8) 0.01 Color image stabilizer (Cpd- 9) 0.04 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-10) 0.01 Solvent (Solv-1) 0.01 Solvent (Solv-6) 0.21

Sixth layer (ultraviolet absorbing layer) Gelatin 0.64 Ultraviolet absorbing agent (UV-2) 0.39 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-7) 0.05 Color image stabilizer (Cpd-17) 0.05 Solvent (Solv-8) 0.05

Seventh layer (protective layer) 1.01 Gelatin Acrylic modified copolymer of polyvinyl alcohol (17% modification degree) 0.04 Liquid paraffin 0.02 Surfactant (Cpd-11) 0.01

For the purpose of preventing irradiation, the following dyes were added to the emulsion layer.

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[0057]

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[0058]

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[0060]

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[0061]

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[0062]

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[0063]

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[0064]

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Based on the light-sensitive material (sample 101) obtained as described above, each emulsion was replaced as shown in Table 3, the emulsion blending ratio was changed, or the coating flow rate was increased to increase Dmax. In this way, photosensitive materials as shown in Table 3 were produced, and Samples 102 to 108 were obtained.

[0066]

[Table 3]

These samples were subjected to the following scanning exposure using a visible light beam. As a light source, a YAG solid-state laser (oscillation wavelength, 946 n) using a semiconductor laser GaAlAs (oscillation wavelength, 808.5 nm) as an excitation light source is used.
m) is the SHG of LiNbO ₃ having an inverted domain structure
473 nm wavelength-converted and taken out by the crystal and semiconductor laser GaAlAs (oscillation wavelength, 808.7 nm)
YVO ₄ solid laser (oscillation wavelength as an excitation light source, 1
064 nm) with LiNbO ₃ having an inverted domain structure.
532 nm extracted by wavelength conversion with SHG crystal
And AlGaInP (oscillation wavelength, about 680 nm: type No. LN9R20 manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.). 3
The laser light of each color is moved in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction by a polygon mirror, so that the laser light can be sequentially scanned and exposed on a color printing paper. Fluctuations in light intensity due to the temperature of the semiconductor laser are suppressed by using a Peltier element to keep the temperature constant. This scanning exposure is 60
Exposure at 0 dpi, a light beam diameter measuring device (1180G
In light beam diameter measurement using P / Beam Scan (USA), B, G, and R were all 65 μm. (Circular beams with a difference of diameter in the main scanning direction / diameter in the sub-scanning direction were within 1%.) First, the effective beam diameter of each laser beam in these samples was measured. By the method already described,
After subjecting the sample to linear exposure using each laser, color development was performed using the processing steps and processing solutions described below, and from the measurement of the reflection density of the obtained image using a microdensitometer, the effective beam diameter was determined. I asked. Table 4 shows the results.

Processing Step Temperature Time Replenisher ^* Tank capacity Color development 35 ° C. 45 seconds 161 ml 10 liter Bleach-fix 35 ° C. 45 seconds 218 ml 10 liter Rinse (1) 35 ° C. 30 seconds ----- 5 liter Rinse (2) 35 ° C. 30 s --- 5 l 3 tank countercurrent system of rinse (3) 35 ° C. 30 seconds 360 ml 5 l drying 80 ° C. 60 seconds --- * replenishment rate per photosensitive material 1 m ² from (rinse (3) to (1) And

The composition of each processing solution is as follows. Color developer Tank solution Replenisher Water 800 ml 800 ml Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid 3.0 g 3.0 g 4,5-dihydroxybenzene-1,3-disulfonic acid 0.5 g 0.5 g disodium triethanolamine 12.0 g 12.0 g potassium chloride 2.5 g-bromide Potassium 0.01g-Potassium carbonate 27.0g 27.0g Optical brightener (WHITEX 4, manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical) 1.0g 2.5g Sodium sulfite 0.1g 0.2g Disodium-N, N-bis (sulfonateethyl) 5.0g 8.0g Hydroxyl Amine N-Ethyl-N- (β-methanesulfonamidoethyl) 5.0 g 7.1 g -3-Methyl-4-aminoaniline / 3/2 sulfuric acid monohydrate Add water to 1000 ml 1000 ml pH (25 ° C / hydroxylation) (With potassium and sulfuric acid) 10.05 10.45

Bleaching / fixing solution (tank solution and replenisher are the same) Water 600 ml Ammonium thiosulfate 100 ml Ammonium sulfite 40 g Ammonium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (III) 55 g Iron iron ethylenediaminetetraacetate 5 g Ammonium bromide 40 g Sulfuric acid (67%) 30 g Add water 1000ml pH (at 25 ℃ / acetic acid and ammonia water) 5.8 Rinse solution (same as tank solution and replenisher) Sodium chlorinated isocyanurate 0.02g Deionized water (conductivity 5μS / cm or less) 1000ml pH 6.5

[0071]

[Table 4]

Next, this scanning exposure is performed in the CIE color system L ^* a ^* b
^{* In the} chromaticity diagram, B, G, and R intensity balances are corrected in advance for each sample to be exposed so that they fall within the ranges of a ^* = ± 3 and b ^* = ± 3. , Gray-scale exposure can be performed. The average exposure time per pixel was 1.0 × 10 ⁻⁷ seconds.

The color development of each of the exposed samples was the same as that for determining the effective beam diameter.
For each of the samples 101 to 108 after the processing, the brightness (L ^* ) for each exposure amount was determined by the Hitachi Color Analyzer C-2000. D65 was used as a light source. As a representative example, the L ^* -logE curve of the sample 107 of the present invention and the function of the absolute value of the derivative thereof are shown in FIGS.

The functions of the absolute values of the derivatives of L ^* = f (logE) of Samples 101 to 108 all had one local maximum value. Samples satisfying the following expression (A) are Samples 104 to 108, respectively. 108.

Formula (A) | f ′ (logE) | ≦ | f ′ (2logEm-logE) | logE: logarithm of exposure (logE ≧ logEm + 0.2) logEm: logarithm of exposure giving maximum value

An image in which the letters "East" from Helvetica 4 to 18 points were exposed on the samples 101 to 108 with a laser beam so that the density of the letters was 2.0, and the effective beam diameter was obtained. The same processing was performed. The human model image was similarly exposed and processed. In the case of the human model, attention was paid to the hair (a part corresponding to a spatial frequency of 5 cycles / mm), and the obtained image was visually evaluated according to the following evaluation criteria. ：: Neither characters nor hair had image bleeding, and the image was excellent in descriptive power. Δ: The image blur is small, but small characters are crushed and the hair is thick. ×: An image with large image bleeding and poor descriptive power for both characters and hair.

[0077]

[Table 5]

As is clear from the results in Table 5, Sample 101
No. to 103 did not satisfy the expression (A), and the image blur was large. Samples 104 to 108 satisfied Expression (A), and were free from image bleeding and excellent in image quality in image quality evaluation.

Example 2 Samples 201 to 209 were prepared by adjusting the amount of titanium oxide and the amount of the anti-irradiation dye in the support of the sample 107 of Example 1 so that the effective beam diameter was as shown in Table 6. . On the other hand, with a light beam having the same characteristics as in the first embodiment,
Five different light beam diameters of B, G, and R were prepared.
Samples 201 to 209 are combined with these light beams,
As shown in Table 6, the effective beam diameter was obtained. The same test as in Example 1 was performed using these samples. All of these samples satisfied the formula (A) as in the case of the sample 107. Table 6 shows the results of the image quality evaluation.

[0080]

[Table 6]

As is clear from the results in Table 6, among those satisfying the expression (A), the effect of improving the image bleeding was large when the effective beam diameter was 200 μm or less.

Example 3 In the test of Example 1, all the emulsions were evaluated in the same manner except that the chemical sensitization of all emulsions was changed from sulfur sensitization to gold sensitization, and the evaluation was performed. The same results as in Example 1 were obtained. Was.

Example 4 The same test as in Example 1 was performed using a support coated with the following optical brightener (15 mg / m ² ). As a result, better results were obtained than in Example 1.

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[0085]

According to the present invention, there is provided a color image forming method which suppresses image bleeding which occurs when an image is formed by scanning and exposing a photosensitive material with a light beam. In particular, the present invention is suitable for a case where a photosensitive material is exposed for a short time (10 ^-4 seconds or less per pixel) with a high illuminance light source such as a semiconductor laser, a gas laser, or a light emitting diode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the intensity distribution in a cross section perpendicular to the axis of the light beam.

FIG. 2 shows an L ^* -logE curve of a photosensitive material.

FIG. 3 | dL ^* / dl obtained by further differentiating the curve of FIG.
ogE | -logE curve is shown.

FIG. 4 shows an L ^* -logE curve of Sample 107 obtained in Example.

FIG. 5 | dL ^* / dl obtained by further differentiating the curve of FIG.
ogE | -logE curve is shown.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Agency reference number FI Technical indication location G03C 7/26 G03C 7/26 7/407 7/407

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming method comprising: subjecting a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material having at least one silver halide emulsion layer on a support to scanning exposure with a light beam modulated based on image information, followed by development processing; The silver halide emulsion layer has at least one silver halide emulsion layer composed of silver chloride grains or silver chlorobromide grains substantially free of silver iodide having a silver chloride content of 90 mol% or more. After processing continuous tone image information, the print after processing is CIE 1976 L ^* a
^* b ^* L ^* when the exposure amount of the light beam is continuously changed so as to be in the range of a ^* = ± 3, b ^* = ± 3 in the chromaticity diagram, and L ^* = 5 to 90 when scanning exposure is performed ^. = f (logE) the absolute value of the differential function | f '(l
ogE) | = | dL ^* / dlogE | has one maximum value, and is subjected to scanning exposure and development processing of a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material satisfying the following formula (A): Image forming method. Formula (A) | f ′ (logE) | ≦ | f ′ (2logEm−logE) | logE: logarithm of exposure amount (however, logE ≧ logEm + 0.2) logEm: logarithm of exposure amount giving the above-mentioned maximum value 2. The color image forming method according to claim 1, wherein an effective beam diameter when the photosensitive material is scanned and exposed by the light beam is 200 μm or less. 3. The function | f ′ of the absolute value of the derivative of L ^* = f (logE)
3. The color image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the maximum value of (logE) | = | dL * / dlogE | is 80 to 140. 4. The color image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the scanning exposure by the light beam is a short exposure of 10 ⁻⁴ seconds or less per pixel. 5. The color image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the light beam is a visible light beam. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silver halide grains in the silver halide emulsion layer are gold-sensitized.
6. The color image forming method according to 2, 3, 4 or 5.