this question gets asked so often i agree with mike you should use search to find the many threads on this subject
personally i do remove leaves, branches and any growth i consider not to be optimum
there really is no right or wrong answer here, its more of a growers preference
folk that do not like picking leaves are keen to show/quote you extracts from grow manuals that declare this is a bad practice
folk that are not afraid to remove growth for canopy management continue to post pictures of their healthy plants
so it's really upto you .. do what you feel/think is best .. and hopefully learn from your success/mistakes