The magnetic circular dichroism in X-ray absorption is employed to study the element-specific magnetization in a TbFe/Co bilayer system and patterned Ni80Fe20 film. Taking advantage of the energy tunability as well as the penetration power of synchrotron radiation, the magnetization directions of Co and Fe deposited in different layers were examined as a function of Co film thickness. For patterned films, the photoemission electron microscope reveals a clear correlation between the magnetic configurations and geometries of the patterns.