Leaving a bit is the whole idea, FIM - Fuck I Missed; old school though, i use my thumbnail and index finger.
Yea, leaving much of the top intact yes, but I like to get an even top, not a lopsided one, I removed both leaves, not just one. If I'm not mistaken, this is the correct method, unless I've been doing it wrong all these years.
My point being, you can have an incomplete top, that wont make even splits in the nodes, regardless, two nodes are always achieved, many people take off more than a single layer or set, and that's where the problems begin, as your setting yourself back, unproductively.
I don't top much anymore actually, but I think if you do it, it's good to do it fairly early, and then again later, and maybe one more time. (unless your using some predetermined advanced techniques) You want to do it in a way that you keep splitting those biggest stem sites, along the apical node, and run it to it's completion, until your sites are somewhat uniform, and the same size, that way you'll get a nice even coat of buds, and even distributions of nutrients to each site, creating more uniform growth.
It works well with photos, but I mostly run auto's these days.
Your first photo's look nice, looks like a perfect job in my book, using steaks or wires works really well with this technique, or even netting anything to hold them in place.
Those always get floppy for me at the end, so it's good to have them firmly secured.