By means of soft x-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity, we show that the utilization of different acquisition modes allows the separate analysis of in- and out-of-plane components of a complex magnetic configuration. This technique reveals high sensitivity towards magnetic inhomogeneity, in particular at interfaces. We found that Fe moments (in the layer with in-plane anisotropy) can be locally antiferromagnetically coupled to the layer of perpendicular anisotropy, when the layers are ferromagnetically exchange coupled.