Illumination with a pattern of light allows for subsurface imaging of a turbid medium or tissue, and for the determination of the optical properties over a large area. Both the average and the spatial variation of the optical properties can be noninvasively determined. Contact with the sample or scanning is not required but may be desired. Subsurface imaging is performed by filtering the spectrum of the illumination in the Fourier domain but other filtering approaches, such as wavelet transform, principle component filter, etc may be viable as well. The depth sensitivity is optimized by changing the spatial frequency of illumination. A quantitative analysis of the average optical properties and the spatial variation of the optical properties is obtained. The optical properties, i.e. reduced scattering and absorption coefficients are determined from the modulated transfer function, MTF.