I'm new to this and need some advice on something... probably will make you roll your eyes.

     1.  Can I safely cut the little branches growing out of the bottom of my fig trees? 

     2.  Can I lop off the long spindly main trunks about 1/3 of the way up without killing the fig?  I guess I would like to reshape this tree but am not sure how to go about it safely.  BTW... I received it like this.

Here are some pics.  I included a pic of my smaller one with figs just to share.  Hopefully, I won't mess it up and will have figs later this summer.  I will be putting these potted figs in the ground according to the instructions in another post.

Cassandra
There are many possibilities in many ways.
One of potted plant is growing like a ground cover and many of its branches can be either air-layered and some can be straightened up. Use vertical support to tie the branches to it the way you would like to see them and don't be afraid because the fig branches do bend easily without breaking. Even if you crack it while building, they will heel over the current season. I have tied broken branches in place and they have made it.
The other one in the pot can use some more soil. You can add a layer of good soil, an inch or two high. Fig plants, like tomatoes, don't have a specific soil line to get damaged if more soil is added. Before adding more soil, anchor the lower three branches near the pot rim and then add soil and the branches Will get soil-layered with roots that can be cut from mother tree next spring for extra plants.
However, there may be better proposals coming here from others.

You can pretty much prune as much as you want.

I had a very bushy Brown Turkey or so its labeled that anyways I cut off everything but one branch and straightened it upwards and formed it into a tree.

Here are some pics of the before and after.

Before I shaped it had about 10 branches growing from the trunk, the trunk itself was only about 7-8 inches tall from the soil line.



Here is how it looks now

I would wait until the fall if I were you. That way you could use all of the trimmed branches to make more plants. What type of figs are they. That second one looks really nice.

I would like to make the first one more tree-like and may just wait until fall as suggested but I'm not sure yet if I can handle more trees.  When I decide to go with more trees, I will probably order something else from the nursery here. 

I'm not sure what kind the first is.  it has no figs yet and I don't know if it will even produce.  Just got it last year and I'm not sure but I think I ordered a Brown Turkey and something called a Mountain Fig... if there is such a thing.  The two are definitely different.

The one in the second pic was labeled Black Jack and from a local nursery.  It was love at first sight.  It now has many figs that are growing really fast.  One is already the size of a golf ball.  I was going to plant the pot in the ground but I'm sort of leaning toward keeping it on that table and babying it.  I can keep a better eye on it there.  I'm keeping the drip tray filled when I happen to walk by and it seems to be thriving on that kind of care... just letting it sip as needed.

Anyway, I just need to get started on the other two... it's a bit intimidating.  Since they don't have figs I feel more comfortable giving it a go.