Also do all my major branch pruning in the fall as well , find it so easy when all the leaves are off and i can follow the shape of the tree more easily in my head. Here is a huge Burgundy lace which was my very first maple that got me started all those years back. First picture late spring 2020 looks ok but is starting to look a bit unruly and needs thinning out to bring it back to a more compact size , second pic in the fall you can see the branches being weighted down and showing unsightly gaps. Next picture the tree with all the leaf off now fall 2020 , now i can get to work and cut and re shape for next year 2021. Just basically stand back and look at it as a ball and start from the bottom !! and work your way up, find doing major branch pruning better this way , when i got to the top i just removed all the top leaders to create a flatter rounder top mindful just to leave a few cluster of old buds on the branches so i would still get a showing in the spring. Took quite a bit off the right side as it was growing into a large Seiryu, this was also trimmed out and re shaped to grow more to it's left as well, at the end of this fall i will attach a large rachet strap to the trunk of one of the leylandi trees , then pull the large seiryu branch more over to the left so it will over the next few years fill the slight gap. The final picture is from yesterday and it's re leafing out nicely , will probably just need some tweeking in places come the fall, but should be back to normal in another two years 2023 a more compact tree for sure. This tree really needed a good pruning as i had not touched this in any way since planting out over twenty years ago. Maples love a good pruning every now and then and you will definatley see the benefit for the tree over the coming years.
