Just wanted to point out that Canon dosn't have a 24-70 f4.0L IS.... I think you may be refering to the 24-70 f2.8L (note that this lens does not have IS). This would be a common general purpose lens on full frame cameras more so than on crop sensor cameras (like your 550D). It would certainly be a good lens to consider if you are planning to upgrade to a full frame camera in the near future. Otherwise, one of the more commonly recommended lenses for crop sensor cameras is the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS. Alot of peole on here consider this to be the best general purpose lens for crop sensor cameras. Good focal length range, relatively fast appature, IS, excellent image quality.... You might also consider the EF-S 15-85 f3.5-5.6 IS. This lens sacrifices the wide appature for more range of focal length....it is is both wider on the short end and longer on the telephoto end. Image quality is also excellent. BUT in my opinion this would be more of a outdoor lens as it does not have as wide an appature for shooting in low light conditions. It all depends on what you are looking for and need.... Since you are planning to set up lighting, technically you could use either lens, but the wider f2.8 lens would probably give you better background blur to isolate your subjects. Actually, on this note, you may want to consider a fast prime as well....maybe one of the 50mm lenses....


As for lighting, this is a very broad topic which I am just starting to get into....I`m sure someone else on here can give some sound advise on how to approach the lighting for this project.


For pricing, ask whatever you think you can get! [] Seriously, it depends on your market and what they think they are worth to them.


Good Luck!