(57) Dye imbibition printing blanks are disclosed comprising a support bearing on one side thereof a dye-receiving layer comprising a cationic mordant, and further comprising an antistat layer substantially free of cationic polymers. The antistatic layer is preferably provided on the opposite side of the support relative to the dye-receiving layer. Such antistatic layer provides improved antistatic properties which enable high manufacturing and processing speeds without adversely affecting printed image qualities. In a preferred embodiment, the dye receiving layer comprises a cationic mordant, a hydrophilic colloid and a plasticizer polymer, wherein the plasticizer polymer is a latex polymer having a glass transition temperature below about 30°C comprising from about 2 to 20 wt% of units having a quaternary ammonium group. Use of such latexes provide dye imbibition printing blanks substantially free of haze and brittleness. A process for exposing dye imbibition printing matrix films is also disclosed comprising imagewise exposing a matrix film comprising a visible light sensitive silver halide emulsion containing colloid layer on a support to blue, green or red light, wherein the visible light sensitive emulsion is also sensitive to UV light and the toe contrast of the imaged matrix film is controlled by (i) incorporating a UV absorber in the colloid layer of the matrix film, and (ii) flash exposing the matrix film with UV light in the substantial absence of light having a wavelength above 410 nm, wherein the UV absorber provides sufficiently low absorption above 410 nm such that it does not substantially alter the effective photographic speed of the matrix film during the imagewise exposure or the mid scale contrast of the imaged matrix film, and sufficiently high absorption to the UV light to decrease the resulting toe contrast of the imaged matrix film.