Great images, and a beautiful state. Thanks for posting.

You are correct in thinking that you need more light to pick up more discrete stars. It will also show more extension and detail in the Milky Way. However, you are limited to well under one minute of exposure time due to the Earths rotation - with longer exposures you'll get star trails. I've had good results with a normal lens and a 15-20 sec. exposure - by 30 sec. star trails are evident. Once you max out exposure time, you need to open up the lens - try as wide as it will go. Results improve dramatically as you go from f/5.6 to f/ 1.4. Avoid telephoto lenses unless your camera is set up on a 'tracking' mount (compensates for Earth's rotation). Telephoto lenses will show star trails much sooner than normal or wide angle lenses. Star trails become more evident when you enlarge the image. So, for tripod mounted cameras, use a normal lens, open it up as wide as it goes, expose for 15-20 sec and enjoy. The best place to aim is where the Milky Way appears the brightest.