in laravel if condition not working in controller

i am trying to use if condition in controller ( IF IMAGE NOT UPLOADED it go to ELSE condition Or else go to IF ) but it was not working , it just redirecting registration from page when submitting a from

code

public function Enrollment(Request $request)

{

  $this->validate($request, [

      'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
      'father_name' => 'required|string|max:225',
      'address' => 'required|string|max:255',
      'card_id' => 'required|string|max:255',
      'image' => 'required|image|mimes:jpeg,png,jpg',

    ]);

    if ($request->image != '')


  {


    $input['name'] = strtoupper ($request['name']);
    $input['father_name'] = strtoupper ($request['father_name']);
    $input['address'] = strtoupper ($request['address']);
    $input['card_id'] = strtoupper ($request['card_id']);

    $input['image'] = time().'.'.$request->image->getClientOriginalExtension();
    $folder1 = public_path('IMAGE/');
    $path1 = $folder1 . $input['image']; // path 1
    $request->image->move($folder1, $input['image']); // image saved in first folder
    $path2 = public_path('IMAGE/BACKUP_IMAGE/') . $input['image']; // path 2
    \File::copy($path1, $path2);



}else{

    $input['name'] = strtoupper ($request['name']);
    $input['father_name'] = strtoupper ($request['father_name']);
    $input['address'] = strtoupper ($request['address']);
    $input['card_id'] = strtoupper ($request['card_id']);


   }

    Card::create($input);

   return back()->with('success','Enrolled Successfully.');
}

via Chebli Mohamed