Lamark is doing a survey on metadata practices to determine what photographer are doing to try to protect their images from unauthorized use. I urge all photographers to complete this
short survey. This data will help Lamark devise better and easier to use systems that insure that photographers will be properly paid when their images are used.
The results of the survey will help Lamark to better educate photographers on the available options for protecting images and which might produce the best results in certain situations.
Today, it is virtually impossible to prevent your images from eventually appearing on the Internet. Even if you only deliver prints to customers there is a good chance the customer will eventually post a digital copy of the image on his own Internet site. Once that happens someone else may see the image, decide they also want to use it and make a copy of the digital file.
If your goal is to license use of your images, then it is almost mandatory that you place them on the Internet. Given that it will be necessary to put them there in one form or another it is probably best to use some metadata technique to, at least, make sure that a potential user can at find you to ask permission.