Leaf fall: the year's best view of the branches

Once the leaves are down, the structure a whole season of foliage was hiding is finally visible — crossing branches, gaps in the pad, a line that reads differently bare than it did in leaf. This is the best time in the year to plan winter and early-spring work without guessing at what is under the canopy: photograph the bare silhouette from the front now, while it is easy to see, and use it to mark the cuts and bends for the dormant season ahead rather than deciding them from memory in March.