Spent the summer working in Wyoming and was fortunate enough to experience a few moonless nights. My dads legacy Nikon 20mm 2.8D performed wonderfully on a Z6. The picture with the dead tree is a composite of two long exposures. A 25 second (F2.8 ISO 3200) exposure for the Milky way and a 140 second (F5.6 ISO 800) exposure for the tree and foreground. Unfortunately I did not have a light dim enough to light paint in the foreground.
You have the right idea, it is more about the Foreground! And any camera even film can capture it. After that first capture you are always looking SE, S and SW at possible foregrounds and dreaming of a shot, it never ends once you see it on the back of the camera what you can not see with your eyes like a microscope. What an addiction into a peaceful world of night!
It's an incredibly interesting type of photography. I am absolutely addicted to it hahahahaha! I have the next 4 new moons marked on my calendar with alarms set. Lovely picture btw! I'm still attempting to figure out how to get a subject in the frame. I have a couple test shots I tried to get with a friend but I don't have anything presentable yet