A system and a method for generating an ultrasound image of an interrogation region in an object with a transducer with a two-dimensional array of transducer elements, includes the steps of generating an ultrasound beam by activating many transducer elements of the two-dimensional array; electronically controlling the beam to illuminate substantially the same region from at least two orientations; capturing the echoes generated with the beam illuminating the object at different orientations; and analyzing the echoes from all directions to produce an image of the region of the object. The aperture of the transducer generating the beam is at least substantially equal to the aperture generated by a linear array of transducer elements extending across the substantially shortest distance between two opposite edges on the two-dimensional array. The ultrasound power emitted from the transducer elements is not spatially uniform, and the multiple echoes reduce speckle in the image.