First, if($photo1 ne "") isn't very perl-y ... Try if($photo1).

Let's hope there's no photos named 0. An odd name, I'll grant you, but your suggestion weakens the code.

( By the way, it probably be best if $photo1 was undefined and the if was if (defined $photo1). It's easier to catch errors when using undef over the empty string to mark the absense of something, since using undef as a string leads to a warning. )