I got into Pleasing Blurs shooting blurred pictures for use of overlays and background, One day I slowed down a bit shooting some flowers that was still out of focus but I thought is was kind of neat looking, So I started shooting more and more, some may like it and some don't, I happen to like it and find it rewarding and very fun.
I also find it addictive. If you would like to learn more you can watch this Video that B&H put out here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HiZ6zSStBo&t=3078s The video is somewhat long and to make a short list that I have learned,
1. A tripod really helps, and lock down the horizontal control to where you only have up and down movement, having said that a tripod is not a must and I just hand hold a lot of times, my tripod is not the best for this because it is a ball head and wonders around anyway.
2. Shutter speed, I start around 1/25 sec in manual mode and work from there, normally ISO 100 and use your aperture to adjust your exposure, some where around f/16 is a good start.
3. Focus, even though is called Pleasing Blurs, you do want to get really good focus on your subject. I find manual focus works really well.
4. Lens, just about any lens will work, this week I shot some with a 55mm, I find my 90mm macro works best but have used up to a 400mm
5. Sweep, you can sweep up or down to make it blur, back and forth what ever you want to do, I find it easier to sweep upward with a heavy big lens, you don't want a heavy lens to bang your tripod on the way down, you may sweep fast, slow, or even just the flick of your wrist.
6. Shoot many pictures of your subject, although it might look good in the camera, it might not be the case when you get them downloaded, once you download them you will find one that will really stand out from the rest and say that's it, and it will put a smile on your face. It's not unusual for me to shoot 10 or 12 shots per subject, some times it's all about timing, to hit that shutter button just at the right time while you sweep.
Editing was another thing and was just as fun to me, Mostly using On1 Raw and Topaz plugin it is much fun to see what one can come up with.
Here are three sample of some of the ones I created, I hope you enjoy and give it a try sometime.