A method for controlling a near field communication between a device and a transaction card is disclosed. The method includes the steps of capturing, by a front-facing camera of the device, a series of images of the transaction card and processing each image of the series of images to identify a darkness level associated with a distance of the transaction card from the front of the device. The method includes comparing each identified darkness level to a predetermined darkness level associated with a preferred distance for a near field communication read operation and automatically triggering a near field communication read operation between the device and the transaction card for the communication of a cryptogram from an applet of the transaction card to the device in response to the identified darkness level corresponding to the predetermined darkness level associated with the preferred distance for the near field communication read operation.