A depth camera assembly (120; 300; 930) comprising: a structured light projector (160; 310) configured to project one or more SL patterns into a local area (155; 510) in accordance with illumination instructions; a camera assembly (165; 320) configured to capture images of a portion of the local area including the one or more SL patterns; and a controller (170; 330) configured to: determine an amount of contrast in the local area based in part on the captured images; identify a first region of interest in the local area and a second region of interest in the local area, the first region of interest having a first amount of contrast and the second region of interest having a second amount of contrast that is greater than the first amount; update the illumination instructions based in part on the first amount of contrast within the first region of interest and the second amount of contrast within the second region of interest; and provide the updated illumination instructions to the SL projector, wherein the updated illumination instructions cause the SL projector to project a first SL pattern having a first pattern element density into the first region of interest and a second SL pattern having a second pattern element density into the second region of interest. a structured light projector (160; 310) configured to project one or more SL patterns into a local area (155; 510) in accordance with illumination instructions; a camera assembly (165; 320) configured to capture images of a portion of the local area including the one or more SL patterns; and a controller (170; 330) configured to: determine an amount of contrast in the local area based in part on the captured images; identify a first region of interest in the local area and a second region of interest in the local area, the first region of interest having a first amount of contrast and the second region of interest having a second amount of contrast that is greater than the first amount; update the illumination instructions based in part on the first amount of contrast within the first region of interest and the second amount of contrast within the second region of interest; and provide the updated illumination instructions to the SL projector, wherein the updated illumination instructions cause the SL projector to project a first SL pattern having a first pattern element density into the first region of interest and a second SL pattern having a second pattern element density into the second region of interest. determine an amount of contrast in the local area based in part on the captured images; identify a first region of interest in the local area and a second region of interest in the local area, the first region of interest having a first amount of contrast and the second region of interest having a second amount of contrast that is greater than the first amount; update the illumination instructions based in part on the first amount of contrast within the first region of interest and the second amount of contrast within the second region of interest; and provide the updated illumination instructions to the SL projector, wherein the updated illumination instructions cause the SL projector to project a first SL pattern having a first pattern element density into the first region of interest and a second SL pattern having a second pattern element density into the second region of interest.