How to upload image / file in magento

<input type="file" name="image">

Select path of media directory

$path = Mage::getBaseDir() . DS . 'media' . DS . 'customerimages' . DS;
$imagename = $this->uploadImageFile($_FILES, $path);

Create functions

function uploadImageFile($filedata, $path){
   
    if(isset($filedata['image']) && $filedata['image']['error'] == 0){
        try{
           
            $uploader = new Varien_File_Uploader('image');
            $uploader->setAllowedExtensions(array('jpg', 'jpeg', 'gif', 'png'));
            $uploader->setAllowRenameFiles(true);
           
            if(!is_dir($path)){
                mkdir($path, 0755, true);
            }
            $ext = pathinfo($filedata['image']['name'], PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
            $uploader->save($path, date('Ymd') . "_" . date('his') . '.' . $ext);
            $uploadFile = $uploader->getUploadedFileName();
            if($uploadFile){
                return $uploadFile;
            } else {
                return 'File not uploaded!';
            }
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            return $e->getMessage();
        }
    } else {
        return 'Please select image file!';
    }
}