actively illuminating a region by using a plurality of infrared (IR) light emitting diodes (LEDs), wherein the IR LEDs are arranged so that an IR LED of the plurality of IR LEDs covers one of a plurality of zones, and the plurality of zones combine to cover the region;

capturing an image frame by an imaging system comprising an image sensor, wherein the image frame is made up of pixels and captured using light originating from the plurality of IR LEDs and reflected from the region onto the image sensor,

calculating auto-exposure control (AEC) parameters for the image frame to establish an average setting;

recalculating AEC parameters for a first zone of the plurality of zones; and

adjusting power of a first IR LED of the plurality of IR LEDs when the AEC parameters for the first zone indicate that an image portion from the first zone is overexposed or under-exposed relative to the average setting for the image frame, the first IR LED covers the first zone.