Techniques are disclosed for manipulating both colored and tunable white lighting systems in order to enhance visual comfort and allow an observer's eyes to recover from exposure to colored light. A lighting system may gradually adjust the color, color temperature, and intensity of various multi-chip LED panels in order to provide pleasant and acceptable changes in light settings. Instead of abruptly switching from one light setting to another, a lighting system may fade to an intermediate transition setting and subsequently fade to the final light setting, allowing an observer's eyes time to adapt to the new light settings. In one example, switching from blue light to a neutral white light may involve a gradual fading from blue light, to a cool white light, and then to a neutral white light, thus allowing the end user's eyes to adapt to the new light settings.