The invention provides a silver halide emulsion, comprising: silver halide grains containing silver chloride as a primary component and further containing silver bromide; wherein, when an average value of a silver bromide content of the silver halide grains is represented by Y (mol %), a silver bromide content of at least 68% of the silver halide grains is from 0.82.times.Y (mol %) to 1.18.times.Y (mol %). Further, the invention provides a method of producing the silver halide emulsion, comprising the step of reacting at least a silver ion, a chlorine ion and a bromine ion; wherein a growth speed at a time of forming a silver bromine-containing phase in the reaction process is at least 60% of a critical growth speed.

Disclosed are silver halide grains which has (110) crystal faces and comprises a silver halide composition consisting substantially of silver bromide or silver iodobromide; a preparation thereof which comprises controlling pAg at 8.0 to 9.5 during a period until at least 30 mole % of the total silver halide is formed in the step of preparing the silver halide grains while permitting at least one selected from the compounds represented by the formula (I), (II), (III) or (IV) shown below and the compounds having the recurring units represented by the formula (V) shown below to exist during the period: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3, which may be either the same or different, each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, an amino group, a derivative of an amino group, an alkyl group, a derivative of an alkyl group, an aryl group, a derivative of an aryl group, a cycloalkyl group, a derivative of a cycloalkyl group, a mercapto group, a derivative of an mercapto group or --CONH--R.sub.4 (R.sub.4 is a hydrogen atom, an amino group, a derivative of an alkyl group, a derivative of an amino group, a halogen atom, a cycloalkyl group, a derivative of a cycloalkyl group, an aryl group or a derivative of an aryl group), R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 may be bonded together to form a ring, R.sub.5 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group, X represents a monovalent group formed by eliminating one hydrogen atom from the compounds represented by the formula (I), (II), (III) or (IV), and J represents a divalent linking group; and a light-sensitive silver halide photographic material having a light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer on a support, the emulsion layer containing silver halide grains having (110) crystal faces and comprising a silver halide composition consisting substantially of silver bromide or silver iodobromide, or at least one of the light-sensitive emulsion layers containing silver halide grains having semi-(110) faces and comprising a silver halide composition consisting substantially of silver bromide or silver iodobromide.

A process is disclosed for preparing a photographic emulsion utilizing an alkynylamine compound as a grain growth modifier. Specifically, the present invention provides a process of preparing a photographic emulsion comprising: introducing silver ions, halide ions and a grain growth modifier having the structure ##STR1## wherein z represents atoms necessary to complete a five to nine-membered heterocyclic ring system, R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 independently represent hydrogen or a lower alkyl of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and R.sup.4 represents hydrogen, or an aliphatic, carbocyclic, or heterocyclic group, which may be substituted or unsubstituted, into a dispersing medium containing silver halide seed grains; and maintaining the dispersing medium containing the seed grains, silver ions, halide ions and grain growth modifier at a pH in the range from about 4.5 to about 10, and a pAg in the range from about 6.0 to about 9.5. Also disclosed is a photographic element comprising a support having incorporated thereon a silver halide emulsion layer, the silver halide emulsion layer comprising silver halide grains internally containing a compound of the structure ##STR2## wherein Z represents atoms necessary to complete a five to nine-membered heterocyclic ring system; R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 independently represent hydrogen or a lower alkyl of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, with the proviso that at least one of R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 be a lower alkyl of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; and R.sup.4 represents hydrogen, or an aliphatic, carbocyclic, or heterocyclic group, which may be substituted or unsubstituted.

A silver halide photographic material is disclosed, said material having silver halide emulsion layers on a support, the emulsion in said silver halide emulsion layers containing magenta coupler represented by the following formula (I), said emulsion containing silver halide grains which have a (110) plane and/or a crystal plane having an edge running through substantially the center of a (110) plane, the silver halide composition of said grains being substantially made of silver bromide and/or silver iodobromide: ##STR1## where Z represents a group of the non-metallic atoms necessary for forming a nitrogen-containing hetero ring which may have a substituent; X is a hydrogen atom or a substituent which is capable of being eliminated upon reaction with the oxidation product of a color developing agent; and R is a hydrogen atom or a substituent.

A process is disclosed of preparing a high bromide tabular grain emulsion comprising (1) in a grain nucleation step creating in a dispersing medium tabular grain nuclei containing parallel twin planes and (2) in a grain growth step subsequently growing the grain nuclei into tabular grains by running into the dispersing medium high bromide silver halide grains having a maximum equivalent circular diameter of less than 40 nm, wherein (a) the high bromide grains are formed prior to the grain nucleation step and then held in the presence of a grain growth restrainer adsorbed to the grain surfaces to inhibit grain ripening and (b) during the growth step the restrainer is desorbed from the high bromide grains and silver and halide ions forming the high bromide grains are released by ripening into the dispersing medium in the growth step.