In this paper, we present an illumination specific HSV color coordinate system and show its usefulness for image highlight correction. We propose that the illumination specific HSV color coordinate system can be obtained by projecting the RGB color coordinates of any dielectric object, such as plastic, along the vector of the incident light source onto a plane perpendicular to the vector. By associating the projected coordinates with standard HSV color coordinates, the underlying color of a highlighted color image can be estimated.