Hey Otius!
As someone who was literally "born 'n raised" on beach photography living in Southern California, I'll try my hand at this...
The main thing is to decide what you want to go for, first. Sometimes capturing waves perfectly frozen in motion is awesome, and sometimes you want them completely smooth and blurry like a fog, ...and sometimes you're going for something in between. Once you've decided that, then, quite honestly, I usually don't use burst mode, I simply try and time my shots perfectly and maybe only click 1-3 shots at a time. Water, just like anything else, needs to be in the right place at the right time and each crashing wave only has a second or so where it's in the right spot....
I don't have EXIF for this image, but it's a good example of 1/250 or 1/500 sec.
This one was definitely 1/250 sec...
...Oppositely, here's what 30 sec. looks like.
...Another 30 sec. exposure. (I layered in another 1/2 sec. exposure for the couple, though)
...And here's what 154 sec. looks like!
So, that's the easy part. What about the in-between shutter speeds, where you want a wave to stay a wave, not just a whisp of white, ...but you still want it to blur? That's where it gets tricky. 1 sec, 1/3 sec, or that range seems to be my favorite:
This shot was 1/3 sec...
This shot was 7/10 sec.... (~1 stop slower than the previous image)
Lastly, in case you're wondering, what shutter speed can blur water, yet human beings can still hold still enough to NOT blur? The answer to that question, based on the caffeine intake of the human of course, is somewhere around 1/5 sec, give or take a stop or so depending on how close and how wide you are, and how good they are at holding still.
Hope this helps!
=Matt=
---------- Post added 11-01-14 at 09:46 AM ----------
Originally posted by shamer I have found that getting close and low to the shore is very important - it adds scale to the waves. Get down in the sand and shoot upwards but don't go to wide with your focal length or you'll diminish their apparent size too much.
Shooting them in profile with a long lens can also add drama, but you'll need to find vantage points along the shore to make that possible!
Shawn
In my experience, emphasized perspective (low angle) can do some things, but composition and careful timing are definitely far more important to practice. Most of my favorite wave blur shots were taken between waist-height or eye-level, I think...
I do love shooting telephoto water blur shots, though, as they add a sense of mystery and excitement that most people don't think to do... :-)
=Matt=