A system and method are described herein for controlling optical power provided to one or more laser projectors of an image capture device, such as a stereo camera, for improving depth image acquisition and quality while adhering to eye safety standards based on laser emissions. The system includes one or more laser projectors operable to emit a laser dot pattern onto a scene, and image capture devices operable to capture images from the scene including the laser dot pattern. The images are analyzed to acquire depth information for objects in the scene, and the depth information is used to modulate the optical power of the laser projectors based on the distance to the object relative to the image capture device.