Never take any leaf off if does not hinder aeration AND dont get any light on it. There are some instances where taking a leaf off from shadowing lowerbudsites, but dont do it unless it is impossible to tuck the leaf under something so it doesent shadow and dont do it for leafs where the new branch coming from its beginning is not like an inch tall already, preferably more like 1.5 to 2 inches. If you remove a leaf where the branch coming from its root is not large enough, you will hinder the growth of that new budsite. So its better to let it grow a bit before removing its leaf, even if it means that the leaf would shadow the lower branches a few days first. But again tuck all leafs that shadow lower branches if you can. Ofc you need to also keep in mind that its best for the overall plant if it gets as much light as possible, meaning from as large area as possible, so dont tuck away leafs that could catch light that would otherwise miss the plant altogether.
You can bend during flowering. What i have noticed can be a nice trick for some autos that doesent branch out tons naturally, is that if you bend the top to bit over 90 degree in early flowering until the lower branches have gained some length, then release the top. Or you could keep it bend, but this temporary bondage thing can also help to bush out the plant a little without bushing it THAT much and without doing permanent bondage stuff. Ofc if you want as bushy as possible, then keep the bondage on and maybe start it a bit earlier. This temporary bondage can also help to give some light to lower branches without having to take too many leafs off, besides ofc temporarily redirecting more growth hormones to lower branches almost as if the plant had been topped for a moment.
