Finding a forward voltage drop across an LED

An LED's brightness is determined by the CURRENT flowing through it. You can run it near its maximum current rating and minimise fluctuations by using a simple (one transistor) current regulator.

You can make it look even brighter by supplying it with a train of high current pulses, such that the average current does not exceed its maximum rating. The beauty of the Arduino is that you don't need to build a fancy pulse generator. You can do it in the firmware! Just make sure that the driver transistor can cope with the current pulse. For example, a ZTX650 with a 10 Ohm series resistance to limit the maximum current would be a starting point. Just make sure that it's impossible for the LED to remain on. It must always be pulsed. (Refer to the simple LED flasher example.)