A method of disposing of the leading end of a roll of photosensitive medium in which a leading end portion of the photosensitive medium that gets fogged due to exposure to light is cut and discharged from the processing route of the photosensitive medium before the development process; a first sheet of the photosensitive medium is cut in a predetermined size, including a leading end portion that gets fogged due to exposure to light, the part of this sheet which has not become fogged being exposed to a test pattern; or a first sheet of the photosensitive medium is cut in a size determined by summing the size of a leading end portion that gets fogged due to exposure to light and the size of a predetermined area of exposure.