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There are ways to make it harder for a casual theif, but in every case I've ever seen those approaches --
1. would not stop a determined thief
2. make life harder on the regular visitor
When you think about the protection of intellectual property in the physical world, that protection is based on proactively dealing with each instance of theft. You cannot stop scanning and OCR. for example, you can only take action against someone when you discover they are profiting illegally from your intellectual property.
And so it is online as well.
It won't stop webmasters stealing them, but at least you get some free advertising!
But, as others have already posted, if you're really worried about image protection, it doesn't matter. Every file you put on your site goes onto someone's computer when they visit your site. You basically give them the file... and now you say, "Nein! You cannot have the file i just gave you!" Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Let's also not forget the web designer's favorite keystroke- "alt+printscreen", which pretty much nullifies any attempt you make to protect your image. The only protection that works is to do as one poster said and slap a big trademark or watermark on the image when you create it... but that of course is ugly as #*$!, and in effect you're not protecting that image, you're making a different image, which, although much less desirable, is just as easy to swipe as your original image.
As general advice, if you think there are ways to protect your images, then your problem is not image protection, but rather your own knowledge of the subject.
