Japanese maple dying

Can somebody please help me save my tree? I have a japanese maple aprox. 8 years old.
I noticed last fall, that some of the leaves did not fall off. This spring here in White Lake, MI some of the branches did not have any buds on them at all.
I pruned all of the "dead" branches and waited for all of the buds to open.
I have attached pictures of what is happening. There are branches with the leaves completely shrivling up and dying and falling off.
I am just sick about it. Please help. Thank you.

 

have the branch black? or part of trunk?

 

No, I do not see any black on branches or trunk.

 

ok ,the maple is save!!

 

What do I do? Do I just wait it out...and let all of the leaves fall off and hope and pray it comes back next spring? What has happened to it? A rough winter perhaps?

 

have you fertilize?

 

Yes, I fertilized it in the spring.