A while ago I mentioned using a digital camera to take pictures of targets at the range and thus save the storage space of paper.
Since then I've been using my camera to help me work up loads, and I've developed a system for doing it.
Step 1
I have been using targets I've downloaded off the Internet particularly those that have a grid on them. I've even used CAD software to make a couple of my own. The only drawback to this, that I've found, is that when I print them on my ink jet printer they are not waterproof and will run in even a little rain. The targets I like to use have more than one sighting black ( bull's eye ) on them to save space when possible.
Step 2
I annotate the targets at the range with all the information I need. The targets I've designed, and some that are available on the Internet, have spaces to do this. I use a sharp black felt tip type pen to do this.
Step 3
I bring the targets home and tack them up in some kind of reasonable order. I've done it on both a white painted wall and on a big clip board ( about 3' X 3' ) that my wife got to do charcoal drawings for an art class.
I try to make the arrangement so that it is wider than it is long or vice-a-versa so that the proportions are relatively as close as possible to a 8.5" X 11" piece of paper.
You may need to put some kind of constrasting material behind the bullet holes depending on where they are and the background. The clip board is a dark brown, so holes in a black bull's eye need something white placed behind them. I've used masking tape, blank mailing labels but it's a matter of choice. On a white wall conversely you need to put something dark behind the holes in the white of the target.
Step 4
I photograph the arrangement of the targets using a flash. I try to be as perpendicular to the center of the arrangement as I can so that I don't distort the image. I zoom until the arangement fills the camera frame. I take a couple of shots. This is digital after all, an insurance shot doesn't cost anything.
Step 5
I download the image to my PC.
Using an image manipulation package I open it. I use a freeware image manipulation package. It will do all of the things I describe here.
I first change the image to grayscale. I then use contrast enhancement to get the image as close to black and white as I can.
Note: The reason for rendering the image near black and white is to save on ink. A color image looks nice but that's not the purpose of the exercise. If I print the image as color or grayscale I'm going to be printing a full sheet of papers worth of ink even if the target background is white in real life. By changing the contrast I can get the background of the enhanced image white. That way, no ink is used to print the white background.
You can go too far with the contrast enhancement and wipe out detail. You want it just enough so that the background is as near to white as possible and so that you don't lose detail.
Step 6
Crop as necessary. I only want the image to contain the targets. If I took the picture on a dark background I want to crop the image so that I don't waste ink printing it.
Step 7
Resize. The software I use gives you the option of resizing an image to a size given in inches as well as pixels. I resize the image to just samller than a page in my reloading log book that is about 8" X 10".
Step 8
Annotate. After resizing I may find that you cannot read my annotations. I use the image manipulation software to annotate the image in an area that is relatively blank. This is where arranging the images in a coherent order can pay dividends. I can annotate with the general info and then just note, for example, that the charge increases by so-and-so right-to-left and top-to-bottom ( or however you wish to do it ).
Step 9
Print the image. If you have resized the image, like I do, to put into a book then you need to trim it with scissors.
Step 10
Last, I use a glue stick and spread glue over the entire rear of the paper paying special attention to the edges.
I paste into my log. By using a target with a grid I can easily see the size of a group even in a resized image.
