Here's a description on the difference b/w the beach/caribe, tropical/colonial and palace:
When you stay at the Barcelo Maya Palace, you have access to all aspects of the other 4 resorts. The same is not true from the other end up.
When staying at the Maya Beach or the Maya Caribe these two resorts share amenities and restaurants. You can go one level up and use the beach area, pool area, beach restaurants and bars at the Maya Colonial and Maya Tropical Beach. But you do not have access to all parts of these two resorts (including the Buffet and À la carte Restaurants) and you do not have access to the Maya Palace.
The Maya Colonial and Maya Tropical Beach are sister resorts and they share amenities, pools and restaurants, you can go to the lower resorts, but guests cannot go up a level to the Maya Palace and use their restaurants or amenities.
Another big difference between the Maya Palace and the other 4 Barcelo resorts is access to the à la carte (specialty) restaurants. At all 5 resorts reservations are required as well as tickets. At the Maya Palace you have a ticket for every night of your stay. However, at the other 4 Barcelo resorts you have limited tickets depending upon the length of your stay:
I don't know about onsite photogs b/c we're bringing our own from home. But try to do a search on this forum for photogs, there's a lot in that area.