Technically, there is no way for you to prevent your image from being stolen. We do have laws to protect your rights. But here in India, it is easy to break laws, and there is little you can do about it. So you are better off being cautious, than depend on laws or technology.
How cautious can you get? I don't know. But here are a couple of options:
- Built a rapport with the print shop. Ensure that they don't store your images anywhere, and print in front of you, off your pen drive or DVD.
- Don't go to print shops that print everything (brochures, billboard etc). They are the guys who'd generally be on the look out for free photos to use across different print media. Find a print shop that specializes in only photo printing.
- Have them printed through online services outside India. I don't know if the shipping costs make this feasible, but you can always have someone traveling to India bring it over.
- Print along with a copyright/watermark symbol on your photo.
But the most fail-proof method of all (as already suggested) - print at home
