What can be done to make the shape of Japanese lantern hibiscus look fuller? Not sure where to prune.

Can you show images from more than 1 side ..... like N,S,E,W? It's difficult to gain a sense of how branches are growing from a single 2D image.

Al

it naturally grows like this with very long leggy branches. And blooms only from the ends. if you prune now you might not see flowers for some time.
just pinch at the tips for now, to develop some young twigs lower. And prune later, after flowering ( mine flowered already In South FL; it's 1.5 year rooted cuttings about your size and shape :).)
It does branch in a Y at the top. You can take off a third or half from both top branches. The longer the cuttings the easier it will root: so i wait for mine to grow longer so i can propagate again semi-hardwood.
But if you don't need the cutting, pruning less is ok.
but you can even take off 2/3 of the branch. but it will shorten too much for the future shape in my view. It gets big ..more like small tree. You want longer branching at the bottom becoming shorter and shorter towards the top.
I rooted several branches and plan to put them together in one pot later: i have 3 long branches for the bottom to work with (i aim to get a vase like much wider spreading top). i've been pinching the tips and you clearly see the Y-branching here and there.
here a pic of mine this April with flower buds:

I think that the growth habit resembles weeping Hibiscus albo-lacinatus. TopTropicals calls H. schizopetalus weeping. and Hidden Valley Hibiscus say that H. albo-lacinatus has H. schizopetalus in parentage
Tropical Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Albo Lacinatus')
in our DB we do not have good pics of a bush, but it is easier to find weeping hibi pics to see it's long arching branches. Standards are common, but you'll see that once the main trunk is cut the growth has long arching branches in a ball formation. So it is very difficult to overcome this and long arching sprays are very pretty in any case.

I would prune the 2 long limbs about half way down. Then it will sprout 2 new limbs and when they git to leggy.....cut them to. All the cutting can be rooted to make new plants. You may not git blooms soon but your shaping the plant. It bein in a pot, you can turn it to make the imbs go the way you wont. I did ine this spring like that. It wus sittin under a tree an all the limbs were doing the same.

Thanks all for the advice. It is blooming now so I'll prune afterwards. This is a rooted cutting I did from mother plant which died during our freeze.

Zeta7 said: I would prune the 2 long limbs about half way down. Then it will sprout 2 new limbs and when they git to leggy.....cut them to. All the cutting can be rooted to make new plants. You may not git blooms soon but your shaping the plant. It bein in a pot, you can turn it to make the imbs go the way you wont. I did ine this spring like that. It wus sittin under a tree an all the limbs were doing the same.

@Zeta7 Thanks good info. I will head out tomorrow and trim the leggy limb back a bit.