Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a developing device storing developer particles including toner particles;
• a developing portion provided with a photoconductive drum for forming a toner image by allowing charged toner particles from the developing device to adhere onto an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductive drum;
• a humidity detector for detecting an absolute humidity;
• a toner density controller for changing the toner density in the developing device in accordance with the absolute humidity detected by the humidity detector;
• a storage portion;
• a power switching portion for turning on and off a power source of the apparatus;
• a storage controller for controlling the storing of an absolute humidity detected by the humidity detector to the storage portion, the storage controller controlling the storage portion to maintain the absolute humidity detected by the humidity detector when the power source is turned off by the power switching portion;
• and
• a toner removal controller for controlling the removing of residual toner particles from the developing device if a difference between an absolute humidity in a power-on state detected by the humidity detector and an absolute humidity in a power-off state stored in the storage portion is more than a predetermined difference value when the power source is turned on by the power switching portion.