Just a random thought for the morning.
Watermarks used to be the way to go, to stop people from just taking your images and using them however they want. They’re also used to send sample images and then ask for payment.
With AI advancing, it’s very likely going to get easier for the layperson to click a button and have AI remove your watermark.
How do you plan to safeguard against this?
Just get paid for your work beforehand. Focus on doing commissioned work, don’t try and sell photos afterwards (which is a dying market anyway). Watermarks are pointless these days. And I barely see anyone using them anymore.