photo editing - How to get the Milky Way bright enough without overexposing foreground objects?

I went out and captured the Milky Way and because I have a 18mm-55mm 1: f3.5 5.5 lens I had to turn the camera sideways and stitch them together in photoshop and just having to work with what I got at the moment until I can afford something better but I was really happy with how it turned out! but I'd like to take it to the next step and maybe have a foreground or myself in the picture. So this brings me to the question, How do people capture the Milky Way/stars with themselves in it so clearly or sitting around the fire without it being over exposed. Is this through post processing and how do they do this, I can't necessarily completely understand how to do it. Such like these: http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/campfire-milky-way-larry-landolfi.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWXxwcRwM_Z3CbpwEFtkOx3B7F5SNdRF4XBN_ccdpLBEVJJg8y3ah45CNwYA