Patent ID: 7192695

Claim:
An image forming method comprising imagewise exposing a photothermographic material comprising at least a photosensitive silver halide, a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent, and a binder, on at least one surface of a support, wherein the reducing agent is at least one selected from compounds represented by the following formulae (R1) or (R2), and the photothermographic material comprises an imagewise coloring compound, which forms a dye having an absorption at a yellow region or a cyan region, and thermally developing the photothermographic material at a line speed of 20 mm/sec or higher using an image forming apparatus: wherein, R 1 and R 1′ each independently represent an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; R 2 and R 2′ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or a substituent which can be substituted for a hydrogen atom on a benzene ring; R 3 represents a substituent which can form a 3- to 7-membered ring which includes atoms selected from carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus atoms; and X and X′ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or a substituent which can be substituted for a hydrogen atom on a benzene ring; wherein, R 21 and R 21′ each independently represent an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; R 22 and R 22′ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or a substituent which can be substituted for a hydrogen atom on a benzene ring; R 23 represents an alkenyl group, or an alkyl group having a substituent having an unsaturated bond; X 21 and X 21′ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or a substituent which can be substituted for a hydrogen atom on a benzene ring.