Methods for recognizing gestures within a near-field environment are described. In some embodiments, a mobile device, such as a head-mounted display device (HMD), may capture a first image of an environment while illuminating the environment using an IR light source with a first range (e.g., due to the exponential decay of light intensity) and capture a second image of the environment without illumination. The mobile device may generate a difference image based on the first image and the second image in order to eliminate background noise due to other sources of IR light within the environment (e.g., due to sunlight or artificial light sources). In some cases, object and gesture recognition techniques may be applied to the difference image in order to detect the performance of hand and/or finger gestures by an end user of the mobile device within a near-field environment of the mobile device.