1. A digital watermark reader system, comprising: at least one imaging system which in operation captures images of a target object labeled with at least one digital watermark; at least one light generation system which, when activated, projects light onto the target object and when deactivated does not project light onto the target object; at least one processor operatively coupled to the at least one imaging system and the at least one light generation system; at least one nontransitory processor-readable storage medium operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing at least one of data or instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: activate the at least one light generation system, wherein, when activated, the at least one light generation system projects a cross-shaped aiming pattern onto the target object, the cross-shaped aiming pattern including a horizontal branch and a vertical branch; cause the at least one imaging system to capture at least one distortion detection image of the target object while the at least one light generation system is activated and projects light onto the target object; detect a rotation angle of at least one of the horizontal branch or the vertical branch of the cross-shaped aiming pattern via analysis of the at least one captured distortion detection image; estimate a distortion of the target object in the captured distortion detection image based at least in part on the analysis of the at least one captured distortion detection image; deactivate the at least one light generation system; cause the at least one imaging system to capture at least one watermark analysis image of the target object while the at least one light generation system is deactivated; and decode the at least one digital watermark present in the at least watermark analysis image based at least in part on the estimated distortion of the target object in the captured distortion detection image.