Step 12: Merge Both Layers Onto A New Layer

Let's merge both of our existing layers onto a brand new layer. To do that, hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and, while still holding the key down, go up to the Layer menu and choose Merge Visible down near the bottom of the list of options:

Normally, the Merge Visible command would have merged our two layers into a single layer, similar to the Merge Down command we used earlier, but by holding down the Alt / Option key as we select the command, we tell Photoshop to create a brand new layer and merge our existing layers on to the new layer. We can see in our Layers palette that we now have a third layer (Layer 2), and we can see in its preview thumbnail that it contains a merged copy of the images from the original two layers below it:

Step 13: Rotate The New Layer 90°

Go up to the Edit menu, choose Transform, and then choose Rotate 90° CW:

This will rotate the image on Layer 2 90° clockwise inside the document:

Step 14: Crop The Document Around The Rotated Image

Let's clean up the design by cropping the document around the rotated image. Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on the preview thumbnail for Layer 2 in the Layers palette:

This will place a selection outline around the rotated image in the document. With the selection outline in place, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Crop:

Photoshop crops the document, removing the areas that extended above and below the rotated image. Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to quickly remove the selection outline since we no longer need it:

Step 15: Change The Layer Blend Mode

At this point, things start to become a bit more experimental and a matter of personal taste. Currently, the image on Layer 2 is completely blocking the layers below it from view, which isn't what we want. We need to blend the layers together, and we can do that by simply changing Layer 2's blend mode. The blend mode option is located at the top of the Layers palette. By default, it's set to Normal, with "Normal" meaning that the layer is not blending at all with the layers below it. Let's try out a few different blend modes and see what we get. I'll change my blend mode to Multiply:

The Multiply blend mode does a nice job of blending my images together to create an interesting design, but it's also darkened the image quite a bit:

I'll try a different blend mode, Lighten, which should give me a much brighter effect:

The Lighten blend mode has definitely brightened things up and given me another interesting design:

Obviously, I could go through each blend mode here and you'll want to do just that on your own, but to save time, I'll try one more, the Darken blend mode:

In my case, I think Darken gives me the best results, but of course the blend mode you end up choosing could be different:

Let's try rotating one more copy of the image, changing the blend mode, and seeing what we get!

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