Collapse Navbar in Bootstrap 3?

I have a header section with a nav inside, because the header class has a image background image set in css which looks impressive. The issue is the navigation collapse expands the header and pushes the non-nav content that also resides inside the header section down. Is there a way to make the collapse menu display above it's parent div when collapsing rather than pushing content down the page and expanding my Header area?

Please can you tell me how to collapse the nav bar over all other content?

Below is an example that shows how to have just about any kind of 'vanilla bootstrap' NAVBAR configuration you could want. It includes a site title, both collapsing and non-collapsing menu items aligned left or right, and static text. Be sure to read the comments to get a fuller understanding of what you can change. Enjoy!

Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/nomis/n9KtL/1/

<nav role="navigation" class="navbar navbar-default navbar-fixed-top">
  <div class="container">

    <!-- Title -->
    <div class="navbar-header pull-left">
      <a href="/" class="navbar-brand">GNOMIS</a>
    </div>

    <!-- 'Sticky' (non-collapsing) right-side menu item(s) -->
    <div class="navbar-header pull-right">
      <ul class="nav pull-left">
        <!-- This works well for static text, like a username -->
        <li class="navbar-text pull-left">User Name</li>
        <!-- Add any additional bootstrap header items.  This is a drop-down from an icon -->
        <li class="dropdown pull-right">
          <a href="#" data-toggle="dropdown" style="color:#777; margin-top: 5px;" class="dropdown-toggle"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span><b class="caret"></b></a>
          <ul class="dropdown-menu">
            <li>
              <a href="/users/id" title="Profile">Profile</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="/logout" title="Logout">Logout </a>
            </li>
          </ul>
        </li>
      </ul>

      <!-- Required bootstrap placeholder for the collapsed menu -->
      <button type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navbar-collapse" class="navbar-toggle"><span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span><span class="icon-bar"></span><span class="icon-bar"></span><span class="icon-bar"></span></button>
    </div>

    <!-- The Collapsing items            navbar-left or navbar-right -->
    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse navbar-left">
      <!--                      pull-right keeps the drop-down in line -->
      <ul class="nav navbar-nav pull-right">
        <li><a href="/news">News</a></li>
        <li><a href="/Shop">Shop</a></li>
      </ul>
    </div>

    <!-- Additional navbar items -->
    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse navbar-right">
      <!--                      pull-right keeps the drop-down in line -->
      <ul class="nav navbar-nav pull-right">
        <li><a href="/locator">Locator</a></li>
        <li><a href="/extras">Extras</a></li>
      </ul>
    </div>
  </div>
</nav>