Manual Mode - A quick Update

I went back to the park this week to see if the cherry blossoms were still in bloom. They were! By now new fresh-green leaves had come out to join the blossoms, which had changed their colour to a soft shade of pink.
It was afternoon this time and the trees were soaked in a warm yellow light. On the downside the low sun was also causing some quite harsh shadows.

So, as I had planned, this time I set my camera to manual mode with auto ISO.
For my exposure settings I chose f4.5 and 1/1000 sec. A slightly faster shutter speed may have been a bit better, for example the 1/1250 that I had used last time. Also, for some pictures I wished I had chosen a higher f.stop to have a higher depth of field, but on other ones I am so happy with the bokeh I got that I wouldn’t want it to be any different really.

Did I get better pictures now? Or more good shots?
I have do admit, I don’t know. At first I was a little bit disappointed with my outcome. I had expected more. Also, I feel like every time I went to shoot at the park I ended up a little less happy with my pictures than the time before. But why? I have a theory! I think that the first time I went there with no expectations. I got a few nice shots and I was happy. The next time I went out with the best pictures I had taken in mind, and I expected to get many more like them. I actually got a few more good shots, but to my surprise also a lot of not good ones.
And the third time, again, I went out with all the great pictures I had taken in mind and expected every other shot to be just as good, or even better than the best pictures I had gotten before. That, I would say, is a perfect recipe for disappointment!
After that realisation I went back to look at my favourite pictures from all three shootings. Not just did I favourite more images each time, also the quality of the ones I had favoured had become better. Lower ISO, sharper birds,…
So yeah, maybe manual mode with auto ISO is the best choice for me. Or maybe I had more luck with my ‘models’ posing nicely in the tree, or the light was better…
Anyway, here are some of my favourite pictures taken in manual mode: