Here are a few ways, that I know of, to get the form data after the FormRequest validation.

- grabs input and files 
$request->all()

- input is the post data, if it is not a get request or then it is the get vars
$request->input()  can specify a key, default or empty returns all

- check if a input field exists
$request->has('fieldname')

- get a group of specified keys
$request->only(?) array or string

- get a single field
$request->get('fieldname)

- you can also use 
$request->fieldname

These all come from Illuminate\Http\Request which FormRequest extends to.

There is a screencast at https://laracasts.com/series/whats-new-in-laravel-5/episodes/3 that also covers the basics of the FormRequest validation.

Hope that helps.