1. A method for optically characterizing a turbid sample, the method comprising: impinging a structured light beam on the sample, wherein the sample comprises an embedded region; detecting a reflected light image of the structured light beam from the sample; determining a measured reflectance image of the structured light beam for the sample based on the reflected light image and a reflectance standard; determining an absorption coefficient μ a , a scattering coefficient μ s· and/or an anisotropy factor g of the sample from the reflectance image; estimating a size parameter of the embedded region based on the absorption coefficients μ a , scattering coefficient μ s and/or anisotropy factor g of the sample from the measured reflectance image; wherein determining a measured reflectance image comprises the reflected light image of the sample normalized by a reflected light image of the reflectance standard; and wherein the reflectance standard is a calibrated diffuse reflectance standard.