Pruning Trees

[06Honda]

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I have several tall Deciduous trees in my backyard that block out all sunlight to the ground below. My plan is to do some pruing to let in some sunlight. I have looked at many online articles on on the technique to remove the branches with the correct tools but my main concern is which branches to remove or does it matter. I have uploaded 2 images to give you and idea what I have. Thanks for any help on this.

Kingston, Ontario
Zone 5b

[rainbowgardener]

I'm no expert on this and we will see what others say. But my thought would be to remove a lot of the smaller, twiggier stuff, to clear out a lot of the leafiness, but leave all the main branches for structure. You also want to look at your tree and be sure you are leaving it symmetrical and well shaped, that is not taking out most of the branches on one side, but not the other, etc.

[skiingjeff]

Other somewhat obvious things to remove are any dead/dying branches. Also if any of the branches are crisscrossing and laying on others you want to remove them as they will just create problems in the long run.

Good luck with your pruning!